That cropcircle were being used in one of the articles I linked to in the story (3 - three) as an example of a bad mad-made circle vs the more technically advanced alien face.
Why write it in English encoded as ASCII? Why not just in English? Why on a CDROM?
To make us wonder. What difference would it make to THEM wether it is in "plain english" or in ASCII? We don't know their agenda.
Btw, you are the one believing here, by ruling out possibilities without a sound scientific foundation. I'm NOT saying aliens did this (because I admit I don't know). It seems a very difficult thing to do for people. .
My point is that you and many others here don't have the guts to go there and find out. You just want a comfortable answer, so you'll never discover anything new.. You'll become rooted into a belief-system where everything is dull and lifeless.
I'm not like that. I stick my neck out and risk being "wrong", because to explore can be absolutely worth it. It's worth it, even if it "fails".
Nice to see some good arguments here. There are some people that WANT to believe, and there are others that DON'T want to believe. The real objective scientist is curious, but don't belong to either of these groups.
It's good that you're stunned. It's a sign that you're waking up. Curiosity didn't kill the cat, it has made a quantuum-leap in technology for mankind in the last 150 years.
Re:Where are emoticons when you need 'em?
on
Top of the Crops 2002
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I don't know who are making the circles, but I find it highly improbable that they are man-made with planks and strings. I find the topic very interesting, because it lacks a good explanation so far. The fanatical sceptics that immediately buys the plank-and-string theory, are as much believers as the other side IMHO.
I'm planning a trip to see them for myself. Maybe I'll get wiser then:-)
MAN, are you seriously disturbed.. Maybe time to spend less time reading webpages, and doing some yoga and meditation on your own. You'll only get confused by reading from lots of different sources. It helped for me.
I'd suggest you do your research on it, maybe even read the links, before you post. It's one think to have a healthy sceptisism, another is to have only faith in your doubts. New discoveries requires faith. If everybody thought like you, we'd be stuck in the iron age.
Some people believe the message includes hidden messages inside it, thus the non-uniform capitalisation. I don't know what to believe, but I don't believe all these circles to be made by invisible hoaxers at night (people are staying up all night to watch cropcircles form...)
A society where law is code, is no longer a *human* society. Strict laws do not really fix the problems. They are human problems, which requires human solutions. When you treat humans inhumanly, they become inhuman. You don't want that, because that is the end of our civilisation. We are human beings, not machines.
Look at USA today. The privatization of jail-camps has made it attractive to have a jailhouse near your city. It creates workplaces and steady income, thus halting the problem of urbanisation for a while. What it has created, is a monster. Now, more people in the US are jailed than in any other country! It has created a boom in the industry, and the police is litterally forced to jail more people in order to keep that boom going. Jailhouses are being built before there are even one prisoner to fill them!! Many jailhouses in the US are empty, demanding an further increases in prisoner-population. The prisoners themselves are litterally slaves, a very cheap workforce for the community. USA, the land of the free, indeed. Pride will eventually fall into the opposite it seems.
Now USA is the land of the slaves and it is constantly creating frustrated prisoners that will eventually come back into society where they will vent out their frustration and abuse.
The so-called solution to the problems, prison, is feeding on the further problems it creates => more prisoners, by privatization. It's people's income. It's really very, very, very sick.
It is not too late. Start treating people humanly, and you break the cycle.
Actually, I find it more interesting to think about the universe, existance, to be life itself. After all, a body is nothing solid. Within a year, nearly all our cells are replenished. The food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe become our body when it enters. On the other hand, without the touch of God, natural laws, whatever you want to call it, life is null and void.
Since a body, any existing object, is nothing by itself (all matter is 99,99999...% empty), life must therefore be existance itself, a glorious play of patterns and experiences.
You can't even say stone is devoid of life. By watching earth's crust for millenias, stone and sand become just as lively and complex as any other organism.
What is life anyways? All the labels we stick to it, are nothing without our logical way of thinking. When our thinking defines reality, our thinking becomes reality! Thus if we're stuck with logic alone, that limits our reality.
There are HUGE differences between identifying yourself with a religion, a country, humanity and spirit.
Religion: People identifying with religion tend to look down on- and misunderstanding others' beliefs and way of living. Somehow, they believe they have all the answers and everyone else must be wrong. Their biggest fear is being proved wrong, that the truth is bigger than the mind trying to dissect and control the world. If it were to happen they will promptly deny the existence of it and censor themselves and others to keep the status quoa.
Country: People identifying with their own country tend to look down on- and distrust other countries and people. Somehow, their country is the better one. Even if it isn't, it surely deserves better, often at the cost of others. Damnation, fire and brimstone may happen to other countries, as long as MY country improves, all is fine. Their biggest fear is that they're not so special after all. That there are hundreds of countries, billions of souls, on this world. Their selves is just a drop in the ocean. When everyone only looks after themselves and their own country, the world becomes a desperate place of pain and suffering.
Humanity: These people understand the need to include every human being on this planet. However, they don't see more than flesh and bones in another human being. They dream of unification, but don't have the means to unify. Somehow people should suddenly learn to get along, without any special guidance. There are no definite answers, since there is no authority. Taken to the extreme, it's yet another road to chaos and madness, also called rationalization. Luckily, for an open mind it's also the road to understanding spirit and let go old views of the world.
Spirit: When you identify with spirit, you (should) have humility. You understand everything "comes from above": That there is a bigger hierarchy in which the human race has a part. Where would we be without the sun, the moon or earth itself? There is respect for everything and love is the fundamental building block in the universe. You are not just a human being, you are so much more and life is a beautiful present full of surprises for you to unwrap and discover your real self. You cannot really describe spirit. I might give it a shot though: It is all that makes life really worth living (yet it is even beyond that)! In its pure form it is free of age, addiction, suffering, craving and all negativity we can come up with. Compared to spirit, the world of negativity seems unreal and devoid of life, an illusion - or a dream.
Spirit is about selfless service. From trees we get houses, fuel, shade and apples. What do you give? The more you give without expecting anything in return, the more connected to spirit you become. Also spirit guides without forcing control. If you neglect your intuition, spirit will make you do that which we label "a mistake". It's called free will.
Spirit is the essence of every religion, of everything. However, people have thrown away the essence and are embracing the traditions, seremonies and dogmas, that which is not essential. They think that rules are more essential than caring about others. However, rules gets old and rusty very quickly, while genuine caring is ever young and fresh!
So is there a difference? Did I make any sense at all to you? You be the judge.
For me it's a pretty big difference what one identify with. In many ways, you are what you think you are.
Yeah, yeah, no batteries, but once a year, it's time to refill the pages! And all the pens you have to buy. Now if you said you bought a memory-enhancing tape and no longer need to keep appointment notes, then I would be impressed.
[sarcasm on]If you were smart you would buy a filofax with paper you can insert and withdraw. No need to re-enter your whole adress-book every year. If you weren't lazy, you wouldn't mind. Not to mention the fact that if you actually had a life, you would really need a filofax anyway.[sarcasm off;] Hope you don't take sarcasm personally:)
Unfortunately, two bads don't make it right. I have huge understanding for people doing something like that, but it's still a wrong action. When everything we do is a reaction, no wonder the world sucks. We make it so. Blaming someone or something else doesn't solve anything, and sometimes shit just happens. Usually, we have a big part in it.
People want to relive the time they read LOTR. I personally think many will be disappointed. Those hardcore fans I know will probably not admit to being disappointed, but it's really rather inevitable when you build up so much anticipation. Then they'll blame it on whoever created it or some other outside factor. Rather sad, really, but the bastards deserves it for being so fanatical;*)
One sure prescription for this is to read LOTR just before seeing the movie for instance. You bet alot of stuff will be omitted. No matter how good the movie is, I'd probably go out of it in a rage. If I didn't know better now that is:)
The trouble is that the more anticipation you build up for something, the more chance of being disappointed and the less you enjoy it. So falling for the hype is like shooting yourself in the foot. Twice, if you fell for Star Wars I before it came out. Surprises work the opposite way.
A movie simply CAN'T beat imagination from reading a book. Pictures and sound limits possibilities. All in all, it's just about a couple of hours of entertaintment. It's typical of man to await something for months, even years, without appreciating the present moment. What you can do today. Now. Live life.
In America, this is reality for millions of humans. Private prison manufacturers are building prisons faster than the government can fill them. This Act is only part of a larger plan aiming to put every american that the public will accept into prison. It will fill their pockets more quickly, so it's a win-win situation for both the government and the private sector (cheap labour among other things). It's also good for rural communities, as the economy from a local prison can sustain them.
It's not so funny as it is sad. When will people learn that a system, a bunch of rules, cannot replace common sense? This is what arrogance brings. More and more people in America are being stripped of their rights every day. You critizised the USSR, but it seems you still haven't gotten rid of slavery. Capitalism seems blind to human suffering and to compassion. IMHO, it's time to believe in something else, something more humane than the american dream.
Slashdot Mirror
That cropcircle were being used in one of the articles I linked to in the story (3 - three) as an example of a bad mad-made circle vs the more technically advanced alien face.
Not a very good choice IMHO..
Why write it in English encoded as ASCII? Why not just in English? Why on a CDROM?
To make us wonder. What difference would it make to THEM wether it is in "plain english" or in ASCII? We don't know their agenda.
Btw, you are the one believing here, by ruling out possibilities without a sound scientific foundation. I'm NOT saying aliens did this (because I admit I don't know). It seems a very difficult thing to do for people.
.
My point is that you and many others here don't have the guts to go there and find out. You just want a comfortable answer, so you'll never discover anything new.. You'll become rooted into a belief-system where everything is dull and lifeless.
I'm not like that. I stick my neck out and risk being "wrong", because to explore can be absolutely worth it. It's worth it, even if it "fails".
I don't agree fully with that ;-)
Belief requires alot of trust. The more you trust, the more you believe.
If you don't believe in anything, you can't exist. Progress does require someone to believe in taking another step into the unknown.
RedBear's comment really sums it all up. Read that excellent summary here.
Moderators: Go moderate those other blatantly ignorant posts. RedBears comment deserves to go to the top.
which pretty much limits the possibilities to terrestrial humans (and relatively few of those).
WHY do you think that? Don't you think the ETs could have enough brains to use the ASCII encoding scheme?
Wow! You should post this as a story on www.Kuro5hin.org. I'm sure they'll appreciate it more over there.
;-)
Great post, and I agree 110%
Nice to see some good arguments here. There are some people that WANT to believe, and there are others that DON'T want to believe. The real objective scientist is curious, but don't belong to either of these groups.
It's good that you're stunned. It's a sign that you're waking up. Curiosity didn't kill the cat, it has made a quantuum-leap in technology for mankind in the last 150 years.
I don't know who are making the circles, but I find it highly improbable that they are man-made with planks and strings. I find the topic very interesting, because it lacks a good explanation so far. The fanatical sceptics that immediately buys the plank-and-string theory, are as much believers as the other side IMHO.
:-)
I'm planning a trip to see them for myself. Maybe I'll get wiser then
MAN, are you seriously disturbed.. Maybe time to spend less time reading webpages, and doing some yoga and meditation on your own. You'll only get confused by reading from lots of different sources. It helped for me.
I'd suggest you do your research on it, maybe even read the links, before you post. It's one think to have a healthy sceptisism, another is to have only faith in your doubts. New discoveries requires faith. If everybody thought like you, we'd be stuck in the iron age.
Some people believe the message includes hidden messages inside it, thus the non-uniform capitalisation. I don't know what to believe, but I don't believe all these circles to be made by invisible hoaxers at night (people are staying up all night to watch cropcircles form...)
Like the MandelCrop Set?
:-)
You mean this one?
A society where law is code, is no longer a *human* society. Strict laws do not really fix the problems. They are human problems, which requires human solutions. When you treat humans inhumanly, they become inhuman. You don't want that, because that is the end of our civilisation. We are human beings, not machines.
Look at USA today. The privatization of jail-camps has made it attractive to have a jailhouse near your city. It creates workplaces and steady income, thus halting the problem of urbanisation for a while. What it has created, is a monster. Now, more people in the US are jailed than in any other country! It has created a boom in the industry, and the police is litterally forced to jail more people in order to keep that boom going. Jailhouses are being built before there are even one prisoner to fill them!! Many jailhouses in the US are empty, demanding an further increases in prisoner-population. The prisoners themselves are litterally slaves, a very cheap workforce for the community. USA, the land of the free, indeed. Pride will eventually fall into the opposite it seems.
Now USA is the land of the slaves and it is constantly creating frustrated prisoners that will eventually come back into society where they will vent out their frustration and abuse.
The so-called solution to the problems, prison, is feeding on the further problems it creates => more prisoners, by privatization. It's people's income. It's really very, very, very sick.
It is not too late. Start treating people humanly, and you break the cycle.
I'm intoxicated by life ;-)
;*)
Why, the intent of stone is of course to reach the centre of the earth!
It's plainly obvious for those who use their eyes to observe!!
"...God could show up in person..."
That's us!
Actually, I find it more interesting to think about the universe, existance, to be life itself. After all, a body is nothing solid. Within a year, nearly all our cells are replenished. The food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe become our body when it enters. On the other hand, without the touch of God, natural laws, whatever you want to call it, life is null and void.
Since a body, any existing object, is nothing by itself (all matter is 99,99999...% empty), life must therefore be existance itself, a glorious play of patterns and experiences.
You can't even say stone is devoid of life. By watching earth's crust for millenias, stone and sand become just as lively and complex as any other organism.
What is life anyways? All the labels we stick to it, are nothing without our logical way of thinking. When our thinking defines reality, our thinking becomes reality! Thus if we're stuck with logic alone, that limits our reality.
There are HUGE differences between identifying yourself with a religion, a country, humanity and spirit.
Religion: People identifying with religion tend to look down on- and misunderstanding others' beliefs and way of living. Somehow, they believe they have all the answers and everyone else must be wrong. Their biggest fear is being proved wrong, that the truth is bigger than the mind trying to dissect and control the world. If it were to happen they will promptly deny the existence of it and censor themselves and others to keep the status quoa.
Country: People identifying with their own country tend to look down on- and distrust other countries and people. Somehow, their country is the better one. Even if it isn't, it surely deserves better, often at the cost of others. Damnation, fire and brimstone may happen to other countries, as long as MY country improves, all is fine. Their biggest fear is that they're not so special after all. That there are hundreds of countries, billions of souls, on this world. Their selves is just a drop in the ocean. When everyone only looks after themselves and their own country, the world becomes a desperate place of pain and suffering.
Humanity: These people understand the need to include every human being on this planet. However, they don't see more than flesh and bones in another human being. They dream of unification, but don't have the means to unify. Somehow people should suddenly learn to get along, without any special guidance. There are no definite answers, since there is no authority. Taken to the extreme, it's yet another road to chaos and madness, also called rationalization. Luckily, for an open mind it's also the road to understanding spirit and let go old views of the world.
Spirit: When you identify with spirit, you (should) have humility. You understand everything "comes from above": That there is a bigger hierarchy in which the human race has a part. Where would we be without the sun, the moon or earth itself? There is respect for everything and love is the fundamental building block in the universe. You are not just a human being, you are so much more and life is a beautiful present full of surprises for you to unwrap and discover your real self. You cannot really describe spirit. I might give it a shot though: It is all that makes life really worth living (yet it is even beyond that)! In its pure form it is free of age, addiction, suffering, craving and all negativity we can come up with. Compared to spirit, the world of negativity seems unreal and devoid of life, an illusion - or a dream.
Spirit is about selfless service. From trees we get houses, fuel, shade and apples. What do you give? The more you give without expecting anything in return, the more connected to spirit you become. Also spirit guides without forcing control. If you neglect your intuition, spirit will make you do that which we label "a mistake". It's called free will.
Spirit is the essence of every religion, of everything. However, people have thrown away the essence and are embracing the traditions, seremonies and dogmas, that which is not essential. They think that rules are more essential than caring about others. However, rules gets old and rusty very quickly, while genuine caring is ever young and fresh!
So is there a difference? Did I make any sense at all to you? You be the judge.
For me it's a pretty big difference what one identify with. In many ways, you are what you think you are.
Well, 'Apple' has nothing to do with the computer industry, while the terms 'window/windows' has been in use for a long time.
Yeah, yeah, no batteries, but once a year, it's time to refill the pages! And all the pens you have to buy. Now if you said you bought a memory-enhancing tape and no longer need to keep appointment notes, then I would be impressed.
;] Hope you don't take sarcasm personally :)
[sarcasm on]If you were smart you would buy a filofax with paper you can insert and withdraw. No need to re-enter your whole adress-book every year. If you weren't lazy, you wouldn't mind. Not to mention the fact that if you actually had a life, you would really need a filofax anyway.[sarcasm off
- Steeltoe
Unfortunately, two bads don't make it right. I have huge understanding for people doing something like that, but it's still a wrong action. When everything we do is a reaction, no wonder the world sucks. We make it so. Blaming someone or something else doesn't solve anything, and sometimes shit just happens. Usually, we have a big part in it.
- Steeltoe
Think WWII. The ability to snoop in on the bad guy du
This is all nice, until the government become the bad guy. How do you feel about other nations having the same quantuum decryption technologies?
- Steeltoe
People want to relive the time they read LOTR. I personally think many will be disappointed. Those hardcore fans I know will probably not admit to being disappointed, but it's really rather inevitable when you build up so much anticipation. Then they'll blame it on whoever created it or some other outside factor. Rather sad, really, but the bastards deserves it for being so fanatical ;*)
:)
One sure prescription for this is to read LOTR just before seeing the movie for instance. You bet alot of stuff will be omitted. No matter how good the movie is, I'd probably go out of it in a rage. If I didn't know better now that is
- Steeltoe
The trouble is that the more anticipation you build up for something, the more chance of being disappointed and the less you enjoy it. So falling for the hype is like shooting yourself in the foot. Twice, if you fell for Star Wars I before it came out. Surprises work the opposite way.
A movie simply CAN'T beat imagination from reading a book. Pictures and sound limits possibilities. All in all, it's just about a couple of hours of entertaintment. It's typical of man to await something for months, even years, without appreciating the present moment. What you can do today. Now. Live life.
- Steeltoe
It's going to be big alright, but you didn't answer his question. Neither can you before the movie gets out: Will it r0xoR my pants 0ff? ;-)
- Steeltoe
In America, this is reality for millions of humans. Private prison manufacturers are building prisons faster than the government can fill them. This Act is only part of a larger plan aiming to put every american that the public will accept into prison. It will fill their pockets more quickly, so it's a win-win situation for both the government and the private sector (cheap labour among other things). It's also good for rural communities, as the economy from a local prison can sustain them.
It's not so funny as it is sad. When will people learn that a system, a bunch of rules, cannot replace common sense? This is what arrogance brings. More and more people in America are being stripped of their rights every day. You critizised the USSR, but it seems you still haven't gotten rid of slavery. Capitalism seems blind to human suffering and to compassion. IMHO, it's time to believe in something else, something more humane than the american dream.
- Steeltoe