Auribus teneo lupum. [I hold a wolf by the ears.] [Boy, it *sounds* good. But what does it *mean*?]
It means "I'm safe for now, but I can't let go!"
It's like the old prank with the bucket of water held on the ceiling with a broom, but deadly.
"It is wrong, blasphemous and sinful for you to suggest, imply or help other people come to the conclusion that the US government killed three thousand of it's own citizens."
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."
Mahatma Gandhi
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial-congress complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007: "Not worth reading"!
If you question the official conspiracy theory, you're crazy crazy crazy! The DOD always tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, after all.
Here's a video that is "not worth" watching: Demolition expert Danny Jowenko explains how the WTC7 was destroyed by professionals, and expresses surprise and disbelief when he's told the collapse was on the same day as the towers.
This video has eyewitnesses from the ground, firefighters involved in the rescue, saying they heard the detonation of the charges(mpg, no sound) before the collapse.
This picture shows how much damage a building can sustain from the Twin Tower debris without collapsing.
Even a gash almost identical to the one pictured in a 2005 official release did not bring this building down (notice the boarded windows).
I often hear people say that humans are no longer subject to natural selection.
They mention hospitals, cripples being taken care of, prenatal care, and they ignore the fact that two thirds of the people of this world have no access to these luxuries.
Not only is most of the population of the earth still dying young from malaria, tigers, hippos, and all manners of natural disasters, but we are reminded regularly that people in the industrial nations die everyday from man made predators. In 1830, William Huskisson ushered in a brave new world of everyday deadliness. I still see rail safety campaign posters, aimed at kids, in the 21st century.
Even medical science isn't saving people indiscriminatly of their genetic heritage. Most of the healing is left to the patient's body, and the treatment themselves work better on some and not as well on others: Survival of the easiest to treat.
Human evolution hasn't stopped: We aren't mighty enough to rise above natural selection.
There's this troll that tried to pick on me for being in mensa (which I'm not, but he's dumb, so he assumed).
I fed him some poisoned replies
From his insistant trolling, I got proof positive that his attacks on the character of the person he wrongly assumed I was were not an execptional bout of misdirected anger from a human being, but proof positive of a under-bridge dweller, as well a set of data providing a posting pattern for that individual.
By an amazing coincidence, right after that troll started eating the scraps I left for it, I suddenly started getting regular AC trolling.
If I reply to those, the AC troll comes back to check and keeps on trolling... always in the same timeframe as all the trolling from the mensa-assuming moron! What a coinkidink! I mean, he clicked "post as anonymous coward", so I have no way of knowing who wrote those!
Hehehe, trolls are so dumb
America [for Amerigo Vespucci], the lands of the Western Hemisphere--North America, Central (or Middle) America, and South America. The world map published in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller is the first known cartographic use of the name. In English, America and American are frequently used to refer only to the United States.
Source: The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
You wouldn't believe the long winded bullshit people will come up with to cover up their ignorance of this simple fact.
Re:take it for what it is., posted to CIA Secretly Reclassifying Documents, has been moderated Interesting (+1).
It is currently scored Interesting (2).moderated Interesting (+1).
It is currently scored Interesting (3).moderated Interesting (+1).
It is currently scored Interesting (4).moderated Interesting (+1).
It is currently scored Interesting (5).moderated Flamebait (-1).
It is currently scored Interesting (4).moderated Interesting (+1).
It is currently scored Interesting (5).
Flamebait??
"Lamarck was the first man whose conclusions on the subject excited much attention. This justly celebrated naturalist first published his views in 1801. . . he first did the eminent service of arousing attention to the probability of all changes in the organic, as well as in the inorganic world, being the result of law, and not of miraculous interposition."
[...]
In 1999 a group of religious fundamentalists won the election to the Kansas State Board of Education and tried to introduce creationism into the state's classrooms. They wanted to delete references to radiocarbon dating, continental drift and the fossil record from the education standards. In 2001 more-temperate forces prevailed in elections, but the anti-evolutionists garnered a 6-4 majority again in November 2004. Now Intelligent Design (ID) theory is their anti-evolution tool of choice.
I was born in America.
But I am not an American.
I still love the U.S.A.
I love southern hospitality. I love giant fireworks and novelty shops right next to a state border.
I love New York (once you get used to the smell). I love the fact that one of it's strongest symbol is French-made.
I love the space program: It's not unique, but it's got style.
I love Harley Davidson bikes, though I usually ride japanese bikes: They're more practical.
And I love Walt Disney and his buddies, and I love Hollywood. I also hate Hollywood, but that's life for you.
I'm pondering the possible motivations of the trolls.
I see them daily (around slashdot, fark, IMDB, any open forum really), so I pay attention to the patterns. Some of them remind me of a former collegue of mine who amazed me with his sheer stupidity (he once argued with me that the queen of England was not wealthy, his main point being that when she dies someone else will inherit all the money... I'm always amazed that people can be that daft). He was also short, and quite repulsive. Basically, he was the office troll, as he both looked and acted the part.
It's irrational, ugly behaviour. He simply was arguing for the sake of arguing, and since he was being made a fool by the very basis of his argument, he was getting angrier, and therefore more passionatly irrational. I simply waited him out. A man that obtuse couldn't last long at any workplace, and I only had to tolerate him for a few weeks before he was fired. But on the internet, there are no bosses to ween out the idiots, and no shortage of supply on trolls of all kinds.
Of course, such a vast pool of idiots cannot be homogenous. Trolls simply bait, and pick on those who bite. Flamebaiting trolls, for instance, are attempting to get insulted. I'm not sure exactly why they want to be insulted, maybe they are masochists, maybe they get a thrill out of pissing people off while safely away, who cares. The point is that they add to the noise, and the noise should be reduced.
Now, let's consider a message. How would we moderate it? Let's assume the following reply:
You cocksucking faggot. I want to rape your mom and make you suck my cock.
This should be moderated as
If it is above 0, it is also Overrated.
This, of course, poses a problem. Because such a post can only be modded down to -1, and we have more moderation choices than can be applied to this one post, guilty of all of them.
What I'm wondering is if it's possible to have a quick, easy to use system that would take all of that into account.
Perhaps a more democratic system where it would be possible to label a post without expending points, on top of the current points-based moderation layer.
Flags that could be set once per user, that did not directly influence a post's score, but that kept a record of the number, or percentage, of the different labels.
The "overrated" mod as first mod.
I've been getting lots of those recenty, and I've been told it is because the metamoderations never review the "overrated/underrated" mod. So people with a sad agenda (personnal grudge or ideological mindlessness, insuficient data to tell) get to keep doing it without being stopped by an already established filter.
I speak my mind, and therefore I've watched my enemies list grow. But the low lives that lurk on slashdot have found a perticularly cowardly way of attacking people now it seems.
I got to admit: It is somewhat annoying.
It's just another way for petty loosers to make other people's lives just that little bit more incovenienced I supposed.
Like that "fan" (stalker) of mine that goes to post uninspired replies detailing bodily functions to post I've made a couple days prior (presumably to avoid getting modded down while the thread is still read by people with mod points, the sneaky coward). I wonder how someone becomes so pathetic... to have a life so empty that you actually spend time harassing strangers, karma-whoring to have mod points and that lil' +1 so people will see your sad attempts at getting attention through crude, mindless profanity.
I understand thugs: getting hit makes you want to hit others. But I have no way to relate to this kind of behaviour. It's so... small.
Main Entry: irrational
Pronunciation: i-'ra-sh(&-)n&l, "i(r)-
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin irrationalis, from in- + rationalis rational
: not rational: as a (1) : not endowed with reason or understanding (2) : lacking usual or normal mental clarity or coherence b : not governed by or according to reasonWhere there's no emotion, there's no motive for violence. -- Spock, "Dagger of the Mind", stardate 2715.1
We are all irrational.
From time to time, our emotions take over and our reason takes a step back. Anger, fear, pride, or any of the host of emotions we experience might override reason and make us behave in reprehensible ways.
But does it have to be this way?
If our understanding of our squishy bits was more advanced, and we could take away emotions to let reason reign, should we do it?
Would it be something that would make us better, usher in a true age of reason? Or would it be a bane, reducing us to logical automatons?
Is fun worth all the suffering that comes with it? Is the human condition so noble, or are we fooling ourselves because we can't bare the horror that a different truth would bring?
If we could create a person without emotions, a true Man of reason, would it be unethical to do so, or would it be irrational not to?
I'm a big fan of the sci-fi show Firefly , wich started on fox, but they changed their mind and announced that they wouldn't buy more episode before they even aired the pilot.
However, fox is not the only network out there, and others are considering buying it. Namely UPN, who already aquired Buffy after fox decided they didn't want it anymore at the end of season 6 (or was it 5?).
I like the show because it looks good (I've liked show that didn't look good, but this one does), because it is smart and because it deals with adult subject matter. Fox was airing it at 8pm (normally...when they aired baseball the show was on afterwards at 12:20 one week and 12:05 the next). I think 10pm on a schoolnight would be a better choice, its not a show well suited for children.
With your bare hands?!?
