On the subject of religion, I find it interesting that:

1) No one can refute the claims of a believer in Christianity. No one can refute the resurrection of Christ (there are too many witnesses who died as martyrs) nor the creation of the world by the hang of God (the proof of this is the world itself).

2) No one can refute the effects of living a Christian life. The peace and prosperity that a Christian believer and follower achieve surpass that of any other person on the planet. Our great nation is different from all nations because of our attention to Christian ideals.

3) No one can refute our sincerity. While there are many who profess a belief in Christ, we judge them by their actions alone. If their actions are outside of that which we call "Christ-like", they cannot be Christian. Therefore, many so-called Christian preachers and priests in our eyes are really charlatans.

4) The only acceptable practice of refuting Christians is to denigrade them with ad-hominem attacks. How many times have I heard that Christianity is wrong because it is plain silly, or that "everyone knows evolution is right and Christianity is wrong"

Prove me wrong.

Consider this.

I am a racist because I am white. I am a sexist because I am male. I am a nationalist because I am American.

The charges go on and on. You can ask many people today about my ~isms because they are more than happy to call me a bunch of dirty names. These names have nothing to do with who I am, but have everything to do with what I am.

The same culture that denounces racism discriminates. I am talking here of Black (or African-American or Negro or whatever we are supposed to name it to be polite nowadays) groups that deem all white people to be the source of their problems.

The truth is that the white people are responsible for a lot of what is good in their lives. My ancestors fought to ensure their civil liberties. I am not just talking about the Civil War, but every war fought by Americans before and after that. Even the British and the Magna Carta, and even the Greeks and the Romans can be credited with their freedom.

The "feminists", who are really women who wish they were men, call me sexist because I am a man. They blame me for generations of women who sacrificed their lives to raise their children and provide a comfortable home to their families.

The truth is, women have a lot to owe to me and my ancestors. After all, it is men that granted women the right to vote. It is men that secured our great land and our freedoms so that they can do what they like with their lives.

And other countries hate me because I am American. They say I am trying to conquer the world or set up some kind of empire. The truth here too, is that if it weren't for the Americans (and the brave British and many others), we would live in an oppressive world. On the one hand, we would have constant warfare between nations. On the other hand, we would live under a fascist, socialist dictatorship. And on yet another hand, we would live under a brutal society where good is evil and evil is good. And on another hand, we would live in a world where a few crazy people can hold entire nations in fear. Yet we don't, because of me and my ancestors.

Isn't it interesting that the same people who complain about discrimination discriminate?

Isn't it interesting that the same people that plead for tolerance don't tolerate others?

I am not a sexist. I am not a racist. I am not a nationalist.

So before you go and accuse someone of ~isms, remember, you yourself are probably far more guilty than your victim.

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That made no sense. I have not posted a single bad post.

I am drawn back to this concept again and again as I encounter the application of physics, math, and science in reality.

The concept is pretty fundamental to understanding exactly what correlation math and reality have with each other. That correlation can be summed up as follows.

Mathematics applies to reality inasmuch as it correctly describes reality.

That's a pretty basic statement. But it has a deep meaning.

For instance, what does "1+1=2" have to do with anything? The answer is nothing at all.

But what does "1+1=2" mean when the 1 represents 1 apple, and the 2 represents 2 of them? It means what you have been taught it to mean. If you take a group of 1 apple, and combine it with another similar group, you get a group of 2 apples.

So we see that this mysterious behavior of numbers we name "addition" has a correlation with reality.

Now, numbers themselves have no meaning. They are as meaningful as letters, blotches of ink, or scribblings on the corner of the paper. It is only when they are used to represent things, or symbolize something, that they become meaningful. It is at this point that the mathematical properties of the numbers have meaning as well.

This is why something like "irrational numbers" are really pretty rational. This is why something like "imaginary numbers" are befitting of reality as "real numbers" are. They are numbers that do indeed correspond with reality if applied correctly. The behavior of these numbers reflect the behavior of reality.

I am amazed at how far we have progressed as a society. We live out our lives with numbers on a piece of paper representing our worth. We buy and sell things by adding and subtracting numbers. We make predictions with numbers as our guide, and entire nations are built and prosper on mere theory.

We live in a world that only makes sense when we abstract it out into a bunch of symbols that live most unnatural lives. Reality is subdued by the imaginary.

Nowhere is this best demonstrated than in the industry of software development. We move numbers about and talk about them as if they were real. We make fortunes on making our numbers dance better and faster than someone else's. And we live as kings because we can see farther than the average man, and delve deeper into the maze of the imaginary than they can imagine.

We are real people, living imaginary lives. And somehow, it all works out in the end.

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That made no sense.

Watching the news today, I heard about the casualties, captures, and mistakes made today.

War is horrible. No one argues with that. But this war is necessary.

Even if it is true that the Iraqis don't want to be free, they deserve the chance to freedom that they never had. It is not right for one person to have so much power over another, the way Saddam does over his people.

When the dust settles, when the bodies are counted, and when it is safe to come out and celebrate victory in the streets, then the Iraqis will know the meaning of freedom for the first time.

The Kurds will no longer live in fear. Nor the Shiites. While segregation, inequality, and discrimination will exist for many, many years to come, they will be far better off in a few months than they were today.

For the first time, in this country of sand and rivers, there will be freedom. Those lives that are lost, those people who are tortured, and those people who are wounded, will be thanked eternally for that.

We thank those who came before us for our freedom. And we thank those who sacrifice today. Those are the heroes, those are they who are really demonstrating love for their fellow man.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' (John 15:13)

Indeed, Jesus himself laid down his life for us. Did we accept it? Many still do not. Yet he did it anyway, that we might live. Let use remember these soldiers who are falling today as saviors. They are laying down their own lives so the Iraqi people don't have to. We are doing something for them that they cannot do for themselves. This is true love, true service. There is no more noble a duty than to serve those around you in ways they cannot serve themselves.

President Bush is praying for God's comfort to be with their families. I am praying for them as well. Let us all pray for all of those who have lost their lives in this war, on both sides. Let us pray for God's comfort to visit all those who are affected by this war. When the fighting is finished, let there be a great peace throughout Iraq for many hundreds of years to come.

I know you want to say something. I won't reply. Unless you make no sense.

I read through Lawrence Lessig's journal, and I encountered an entry he made about John Edwards.

I have grown up with my own ideas about things. I believe strongly in freedom. I understand that to gain freedom, you have to take away the freedoms of some of the people around you.

I understand the importance of "the rule of law", which seems to be a mantra of the right that condemns the left nowadays. Let me break down what it means. It means that no one -- not the President, not the Supreme Court, and not even Bill Gates, or anyone, is above the law. The law is what governs us. It is what ties us together, and guarantees freedom for all.

The most important fight going on today is happening in the Senate house. You see, a bright, motivated Hispanic lawyer, who has developed his own ideas about the world, and who leads his own life, has found himself nominated by President Bush for a very high court appointment.

This drives the left nuts, because America is not a liberal country. More than half are "right-wing conspirators", according to some real wack-jobs. They believe that words mean things, that lying is as bad a crime as stealing, and that people should work for what they need, and what they earn is theirs. In other words, they believe in the law, in conservatism, and in doing the right thing.

The left cannot win in an election. They know this. Here's proof: when is the last time you have seen a liberal run a national campaign of liberalism? Clinton didn't win that way, and Gore tried to come off as more conservative than Bush,

They can't push their liberal bills through without an uproar. It seems when they do, there is a revolution, and the bill gets reversed.

So they have to rely on courts to "interpret" (or, as we honest people say, "make") the law to their liberal ends.

Now Bush is president. Say what you like, he won hands down two recounts in Florida, and the laws of the land say he is president. He has nominated conservative judges, which is a code word for judges who don't legislate from the bench, even when it is not in their political agenda to do so. It is his right to nominate anyone he likes.

It is the duty of the senate to review his nominees to see if they are fit. The liberals are using this power to hold america hostage and prevent anyone from being sworn into the bench. Why? Chuck Schumer said it best when he plainly states that he is opposed to the candidates for ideological reasons alone. Scholars and most everyone else who has been around the block know that you can't question a judge's political opinions, only their legal ability. To question their political opinions is to turn the judiciary into a political arena, which we have sworn we would never allow.

In short, they are taking measures never before taken -- measures that go against the constitution, that go against standard practices, and measures that are angering the American populace.

When 2004 rolls around, I predict several things. I predict the GOP will pick up more seats in the house and the senate. Not just a few seats, but enough to guarantee a super-majority in both places. President Bush will be reelected, without any close calls.

And the liberals will cry foul. "We couldn't raise any money, because we do not cater to the rich." "How can America be free when only one party is in power?" "Bush used his power to ensure his victory. This is wrong!"

The left is falling into obsolescence, like the USSR, the UN, and Iraq. What will they do in their final throes? What more can they do besides what they have already done?

Side with the enemy. We already know that the democratic party has strong ties with China, has sought help from the USSR to get Carter elected, and has actively sponsored civil disobedience. We already know where their loyalties lie -- with regaining power over the people, rather than empowering the people.

I predict we will see the left show their true colors. We will see real rebellions, with guns and shooting and stuff. We will see all kinds of interesting phenomena we didn't imagine possible. But in the end, they will be gone. They will assimilate back into society, plotting their return to power. And we will be there to ensure that America ia free from them forever.

And Bush will still be here. In America, the majority rules, and minority has to learn to live with it.

After more than two years of waiting, we're finally going to see another tower of the enemy bastion fall.

Saddam Hussein has a long history of evil. I'm not talking Dr. Evil Evil, I'm talking Jeffrey Dahmer Evil. I'm talking Evil you can't imagine.

Saddam Hussein celebrated the day thousand of Americans and hundreds of foreign nationals were burned alive or jumped to their deaths. He celebrated because he wanted to see it happen as badly as Osama Bin Laden. He celebrated because years of his own hard work had gone into this.

The "Axis of Evil" is falling. As long as Bush ignores the French (motto: "Who painted our white flag red and blue?") and other idiots who don't have the best interested of America and the rest of the world in mind, and as long as Bush continues to fight the fight, despite the hate-America democrats and hate-America socialists that we allow to live in our country, we will be free.

One day, South Korea and North Korea will be united under a banner of freedom. China and Russia will finally give up plans for becoming a superpower, based on repression. The Middle East will become a hotbed of capitalism and democracy, One day, we will be able to get rid of the Terror Alert system. We will be able to go out and live our lives without worry of Los Angelos being burned with nuclear fire, and without worry of New York being destroyed with biological weapons.

We will be free again. The world will be free -- many for the first time. Who will we thank for it? Who will they thank for it?

Ten, twenty, years from now, we will look back, and declare President George W. Bush one of the great presidents. He will enjoy a status enjoyed only by the memories of Washington, Lincoln, and Reagan. We will have a "Freedom Day", synonymous with "George W. Bush Day", where we will celebrate by thanking God and our ancestors for the freedom we enjoy.

Those people who are putting their lives on the line, who are leaving their families behind, not knowing if their families will ever see them again, or if they do see them, if they will still be as healthy as they were when they left, those people are the heroes as well. They answered the call of freedom. They will be able to tell their children, "I fought for the right. I guaranteed your freedom. I guaranteed some Iraqi child's freedom. Today, they are happy, because of me."

Now, the question all you America-haters (and I DO question your patriotism, you snivelling unthankful idiots) will have to answer: Where were you when Bush beat the war drums? Where were you when the line was drawn between the good guys and the bad guys?

Your children will come to you one evening. They are going to say, "Mommy, daddy, when Bush brought freedom to the Middle Easy, were you one of those people who held up the 'Support Our Troops' signs?"

You know what you will say? You won't say anything. You won't dare let your kids know that you didn't support the troops. You won't dare let your kids know that you supported an evil dictator that committed crimes far worse than anything you imagined. You'll probably lie and tell them that you did support the troops. But deep inside, you know you were wrong. You will have that cankerous black sore on your heart that will plague you forever.

Yes, war is horrible. But it is the best option. It is the only option for us. And we are doing the right thing. And we will always be remembered for doing the right thing when it wasn't the easy thing.

If you are for the war, express your support.

If you are opposed, go ahead and post your anti-freedom, anti-Bush, pro-evil statements below. I always find your comments amusing, because they make absolutely no sense, yet you seem to believe them as if they are scripture codified by some God who you deny the existence of.

Here are three interesting things that have happened lately.

Horatio Sanz
Last Friday was the last day of a conference I was attending in Miami Beach. As I walked to the lobby of the hotel with my luggage one of the bell boys asked if I wanted a taxi. I said, "Yes." and he told me it would be coming soon. Less than a minute later I notice a familiar face entering the lobby. I was Horatio Sanz from Saturday Night Live. He walked out front with a friend of his. About that time the bell boy tells me that my cab has arrived. I walk out and it is pulling into the driveway. As I head towards it Horatio Sanz and his friend see it and head towards it as well. Unencumbered by luggage they beat me to it by ten feet. I yell out, "Horatio Sanz is stealing my taxi!" and he looks over at me smiles, waves and hops into it. I then waited for the next taxi.

Larry Lessig
That night I came home and was speaking with my landlords. We live in the third floor of their house so we see them all the time. I noticed the book "Code" by Lawrence Lessig on the bookshelf. The woman is a lawyer so I ask her what she thinks of Lessig. Her husband replies and says, "We like him a lot, how do you know him?" I thought this was a strange answer and explain that he is a bit of a geek celebrity and that I probably pay more attention to him than I otherwise would because he is at Stanford now. He replies that his wife performed "Larry's" marriage ceremony and that they often run into lawyers that have heard of him but never anyone who knew of him as a celebrity. His wife then explains that they are good friends and he comes by the house several times a year. Next time he comes by they are going to introduce me.

Cidade de Deus
Finally, I went and saw "City of God" last night. I have wanted to go for a long time since I have an above normal level of interest in Brazil. The plan was to go with two other guys, one of which is a film student. Unfortunately he canceled during the day. So the two of us that remained went to a local Brazilian restuarant for dinner and then headed to the movie. When we got there it was exceptionally crowed for an "art film" on a Wednesday night. It turned out that the co-director was there and some group from Harvard was hosting her. The movie itself was amazing. I have never seen such natural acting. The kids were especially impressive. I kept wondering where they had gotten these kids. The camera work was impressive as well, giving the favelas a bit of a dizzy feeling which struck me as true to life, having spent some time in the favelas. The movie was very violent, with a pretty huge body count, which seems true to life. I personally knew someone who was killed by the police in Brazil about two years ago. While I was living there I also saw the police shooting at a fleeing suspect and a man running off after killing his father with a butter knife over who got to eat the last of the beans. So the violence in the film is struck me as very real and not overdone. Afterwards Katia Lund, the co-director, opened it up for questions. It turns out that there was an acting project in Rio that involved about 2,000 kids from the favelas. They worked with them for two years on improvisation and acting without telling them that they were going to film a movie. Then towards the end they started giving them specific situations from the film to act out without telling them why. Then they went on location in the favelas to film. They had to ask the police to not enter the favela when they were filming in order for the people working on the movie to be safe. The film is amazing. Too bad my film school friend missed it.

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After modding up the Post Of Doom (and one of the responses to it) I lost the ability to moderate. I guess that one or two bad moderations was enough to get you banned. It seems that everyone that modded the post up got placed by hand on the blacklist, which kept you from moderating or even meta-moderating.

Since the introduction of the Zoo system I have been able to meta-moderate, but until today I have still not had normal moderator points. This led me to think that there was still some secret list of "bad people" and that I was still on it. Now I am simply confused.

What I am not confused about is how I will use these points. I will use them as I see fit, not as Taco would. If I find a post to be more Informative than Off-Topic I will mod it as Informative. If I find it funny, I will mod it as such. If I do a good enough job perhaps I will again be hand picked (as opposed to being picked through meta-moderation) to not moderate again.

Has anyone else had a situation where they got some other number of moderations to metamoderate than 10? Just today, it gave me exactly one! I took a screenshot too if you're interested, although this would technically be very easy to fake.

I will be following this up with a real Turd Report, so be patient.

Many of my fans and friends have asked me various questions during my stint as The Turd Report. I would like to take some time and answer those questions. The fisrt qusetion I would like to answer is: "What is the correct way to wipe?"

Wiping is a critical part of the excremeditation ritual that is performed every day. Having the correct wiping style helps you to have a clean and odor-free butt.

First, make sure you have the supplies that you will need. namesly, you will need toilet paper and wet wipes. I don't have any recomendations for wet wipes, but I do have some suggestions for buying toilet paper. I prefer the cheap 2-ply paper. No lotions, no quilting, no prints. I recomend the cheap paper due to it producing almost no lint when rubbed against your butt. Excessive lint in your butt can cause irritation as the day goes on.

Now, after you have dumped you load, as it were. You are going to need to clean up. First off, determine how messy your turd was. If it was diarhea, or very loose stool, you will need to start off with a large wad of paper. The paper should cover your hand and be thick enough so stop liquid from soaking thru to your hand. This large wad of paper will be used to get the big and messy stuff off of your butt. Once you are starting to get deep into your ass crack, you will want to start using smaller and smaller wads of paper. But, be sure that it is still covering your hand. (You don't want to get a piece of poo on your hand and throw everything off.) Once I have actually wiped my anus with the paper a couple of times, I will break out the wet wipes. Take out one wet wipe and wipe around you anus. You can either use a new one for each pass, or you can fold it over and use the other (clean) side. After 2-3 wipes, the wet wipe should come out clean. At this point, I like to take a small wad of paper and dry off and do a quick spot check.

Now, all that is left ot do is to flush and make a journal entry.

It's proven. I'm a slashdot addict and I have now racked up 2000 posts. Wow, and I've only been a member for about 28 months, if my count is right.

Basically, I'm writing this journal entry so that the post can be housed without polluting an article and so I can always find it. Sentimental value, I guess. Feel free to ignore it.