Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 9 Jul 2012 @ 8:13am
Top 3
Top 3 groups not to piss off on the internet:
Anonymous
4chan
Something Awful
Wading into Apple/Windows/Linux flamewars is like poking a bear with a stick. Pissing off these groups is like poking a mama polar bear with said stick while you are between her and her cubs.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 1:00pm
Re: But what of the Branch question?
Yeah, I don't like this precedent, either. There's a checks and balances failure here. The President (executive branch) gets to appoint federal judges - but they still must be confirmed by the Senate (legislative branch). Even though the LOC is appointed/confirmed in the same manner, who can reign in the LOC? Can Congress refuse to confirm appointments to the CRB?
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 6:37am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Extradition treaties basically just say "Yes, we have charged him with a crime, and yes, that crime is over the threshold for extradition".
You don't see a problem with that? That a foreign government can just declare that someone has broken their laws (even though that person wasn't in the country), demand extradition, without providing any evidence or being required to present adaquate reasons?
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 4:29am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 2 rules to be an atheist
Again you are making things about me up. I don't condemn anyone for speaking and arguing about what they believe. I encourage it. I have no problem with someone being converted if it is done openly, honestly, without threats or pressure, and without taking advantage of someone who doesn't know any better - in essence allowing someone to make up their own mind based on what they think is important.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 5 Jul 2012 @ 12:20pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 2 rules to be an atheist
Please argue against what I am saying rather than what you are making up.
I don't hate anyone because they are religious, or because they believe in irrational things. I argue against those things and hope to convince people to see my point of view by relying on evidence and logic and to give up their fantasies.
I can hate irrationality without hating people who believe in irrational things. To put it in religious terms: You can hate sin without hating people who are sinners - at least, that's what I was taught in Sunday school.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 5 Jul 2012 @ 10:31am
Re: Re: Re: 2 rules to be an atheist
If you are fully confident in your belief, then why bother? If there is no God, what are you trying to save Christian's from?
I'm an atheist, yes, but my belief structure is rationalism. (I'm an atheist as a result of being a rationalist, and because there is no evidence of there being a god. If someone were to discover evidence of god, I'd still be a rationalist, but accept that a god did exist.)
I'm trying to save people from living in ignorance and believing in fantasies (or fairy tales, bronze age myths, whatever you want to call them). I'm trying to stop people from perpetuating irrational beliefs - whether it is religion, new age mysticism, faith healing or other quackery, psychics, or whatever else people are believing in without evidence.
there is no eternal consequence from their beleif, right?
There are direct consequences now, in this world, that I am trying to stop. Things like the destruction of science education, the increasing religious fundamentalism in government, the proliferation of bigotry, and much more.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 5 Jul 2012 @ 10:06am
Re: Re: Re:
Sorry but communist states are atheist states.
I never said they weren't. Communists following the book are atheists. Not all atheists are communists. All I was saying is that they are not the same - and that communism is a belief structure similar to many religions.
Atheism - lack of belief in a god or gods. That's it.
It's no accident that communist states decree that religion is superstitious and its membership predominantly atheist.
Of course its not an accident - for exactly the reason I stated. Communism is a belief structure - having a competing belief structure (religion) would end up with people having divided loyalties. Of course communist states suppressed religion. They didn't do it because they were atheists - they did it because they were communists.
If either the government or a church declared that homosexuals are to be discriminated against and treated as lesser humans, you'd have weight to your argument.
I live in North Carolina.
Perhaps you missed it, but this state just amended its constitution to do just that thing.
That particular amendment was widely supported by the Catholic and many other churches.
So I guess my argument has weight. Thanks for confirming it.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 5 Jul 2012 @ 9:33am
Re: Re: Re: NSS
Its only possible purpose was to provoke.
Who are you to unilaterally declare the reasons this man had for putting up the poster? He said what his reasons were - if you want to call him a liar, please come out and do so unequivocally.
And yes, the US is quite different when it comes to this subject.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 5 Jul 2012 @ 9:26am
Re: Re: Reason
Pascal's Wager has some significant flaws.
It assumes a binary state - either no god, or the god of 1 particular religion. Depending on how you count, there are at least 7 or 8 major religions in the world. Of those, there are literally thousands of sects and offshoots, all of which claim to be the correct and only way to receive the rewards promised.
The wager also fails to consider a key aspect of what most religions claim - that their god is omniscient and would know whether someone taking the wager really has the beliefs, or is faking it.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 5 Jul 2012 @ 6:34am
Re:
If atheists are so certain that God is just a fairy tale, they would feel secure enough in themselves to not dwell on the issue, much less find excuses to attack/berate religion at every opportunity. Yet they simply cannot help themselves
And atheists could say the same thing about every evangelical that insists I'm going to hell, insists all homosexuals are going to hell, insists on teaching everyone's children their fairy tales in science classes, insists... oh heck, I could go on all day.
Each year about 160,000 Christians are martyred simply for their chosen belief, not taking into consideration all the verbal and physical abuse/torture, suppression and intolerance, much of it being caused by atheist (communist) and muslim governments
That you see atheism as identical to communism shows how tragically misinformed you are. Communism is a belief structure built much the same way as religions - communism has beliefs unsupportable by evidence, belief in a glorious (radiant) future, and even a holy book - although whether it was the original holy book of Marx, or the latest revelations of Mao is equivalent to a religious sect.
I've yet to hear horror stories about atheists being persecuted by Christians for their non-belief.
Then you're not listening. As an atheist living in the south (aka The Bible Belt), I have a few of my own, and hear plenty of others. Though, admittedly, we generally don't have it as bad as homosexuals, who get persecuted by Christians more than atheists.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 5 Jul 2012 @ 6:03am
Re: NSS
Seriously, why would you put a little poster like that in your window except to try and provoke a response that you can then portray as some kind of "persecution"?
If you read the link, it says exactly why he did it:
"I am an atheist and I feel people are being misled by religion. I wanted to show people that if they thought they were alone there was at least one other person who thought that."
As an atheist myself, I understand that exactly. For years growing up, I knew religion was a crock - but I was too scared to say it because I thought I was the only one. Only after hearing many others "come out of the closet" was I able to have the courage to stand up and tell my friends, family, and now even strangers my feelings.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 2 Jul 2012 @ 9:58pm
deploying 40 tons of man-made tungsten dust,
Errr. So what stops this from hitting all the satellites and stuff that we want to keep working? Being effectively sandblasted in space sounds like a bad thing for delicate antenna and other sensitive instruments.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 2 Jul 2012 @ 4:51pm
Germlines
Just wait until the patent mess we get into if germline treatments ever get off the ground. Germlines are inheritable sequences - those passed from parent to child.
Would a potential parent with a patented sequence have to get permission from the patent holder before procreating? What about not wearing a condom during sex, or donating sperm? Would the child be bound by some contract that was entered into before they were born? The consequences here are quite staggering with any gene patents in the picture.
Or even without germline therapies, what happens if a patented sequence is the same as one that arose naturally through random mutation? We can't get independent invention sorted out, what makes anyone think we could even remotely handle that in our legal system?
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 2 Jul 2012 @ 3:08pm
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Partially disagree with you there, Heph.
I can see an artist who is not good at dealing with the public hiring a good PR agent to post on their behalf working well. The artist accepts that they "suck at twitter" and tells their fans that, and gets a partner to do that well.
As long as everyone is upfront and honest about what it is and why - so the artist really can spend time on their art - most fans (and the kind of fans you really want anyway) would have no trouble with it. As long as the agent isn't posting fake stuff, or being lame (in whatever definition the fans of that artist think), it'd be great.
It may not work for the labels, but it could work for an artist who doesn't want to put the work into PR themselves.
On the post: Dear Angry Person: People Who Criticize You Likely Aren't Defaming You Or Infringing On Your Copyright
Top 3
Anonymous
4chan
Something Awful
Wading into Apple/Windows/Linux flamewars is like poking a bear with a stick. Pissing off these groups is like poking a mama polar bear with said stick while you are between her and her cubs.
On the post: Mobile Operators Responded To An Astounding 1.3 Million Requests For Subscriber Info
Re:
That number may sound high, but considering that we have around 2.2 million people in jail or prison, it doesn't surprise me at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate
Home of the free, indeed.
On the post: And So It's Come To This: Samsung/Google Forced To Degrade Features In Patent Dispute
Re: Re: tired now...
On the post: With Wikileaks Releasing Syrian Emails, Will People Realize It's Not Just Targeting The US?
Guess they're anti-Swiss, too. /s
On the post: Copyright Royalty Board Found Unconstitutional; Appeals Court Magically Makes It Constitutional Again
Re: But what of the Branch question?
On the post: FBI Continues To Insist There's No Reason For Kim Dotcom To Be Able To See The Evidence Against Him
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You don't see a problem with that? That a foreign government can just declare that someone has broken their laws (even though that person wasn't in the country), demand extradition, without providing any evidence or being required to present adaquate reasons?
On the post: UK Pensioner Could Face Arrest For Atheist Poster
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 2 rules to be an atheist
On the post: UK Pensioner Could Face Arrest For Atheist Poster
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 2 rules to be an atheist
On the post: UK Pensioner Could Face Arrest For Atheist Poster
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 2 rules to be an atheist
I don't hate anyone because they are religious, or because they believe in irrational things. I argue against those things and hope to convince people to see my point of view by relying on evidence and logic and to give up their fantasies.
I can hate irrationality without hating people who believe in irrational things. To put it in religious terms: You can hate sin without hating people who are sinners - at least, that's what I was taught in Sunday school.
On the post: OxyContin Being Tested On Kids... So Drugmaker Can Get 6 More Months Of Patent Protection
Young
Works for drugs, cigarettes, politics, and religions.
On the post: UK Pensioner Could Face Arrest For Atheist Poster
Re: Re: Re: 2 rules to be an atheist
I'm an atheist, yes, but my belief structure is rationalism. (I'm an atheist as a result of being a rationalist, and because there is no evidence of there being a god. If someone were to discover evidence of god, I'd still be a rationalist, but accept that a god did exist.)
I'm trying to save people from living in ignorance and believing in fantasies (or fairy tales, bronze age myths, whatever you want to call them). I'm trying to stop people from perpetuating irrational beliefs - whether it is religion, new age mysticism, faith healing or other quackery, psychics, or whatever else people are believing in without evidence.
there is no eternal consequence from their beleif, right?
There are direct consequences now, in this world, that I am trying to stop. Things like the destruction of science education, the increasing religious fundamentalism in government, the proliferation of bigotry, and much more.
On the post: UK Pensioner Could Face Arrest For Atheist Poster
Re: Re: Re:
I never said they weren't. Communists following the book are atheists. Not all atheists are communists. All I was saying is that they are not the same - and that communism is a belief structure similar to many religions.
Atheism - lack of belief in a god or gods. That's it.
It's no accident that communist states decree that religion is superstitious and its membership predominantly atheist.
Of course its not an accident - for exactly the reason I stated. Communism is a belief structure - having a competing belief structure (religion) would end up with people having divided loyalties. Of course communist states suppressed religion. They didn't do it because they were atheists - they did it because they were communists.
If either the government or a church declared that homosexuals are to be discriminated against and treated as lesser humans, you'd have weight to your argument.
I live in North Carolina.
Perhaps you missed it, but this state just amended its constitution to do just that thing.
That particular amendment was widely supported by the Catholic and many other churches.
So I guess my argument has weight. Thanks for confirming it.
On the post: UK Pensioner Could Face Arrest For Atheist Poster
Re: Re: Re: NSS
Who are you to unilaterally declare the reasons this man had for putting up the poster? He said what his reasons were - if you want to call him a liar, please come out and do so unequivocally.
And yes, the US is quite different when it comes to this subject.
On the post: UK Pensioner Could Face Arrest For Atheist Poster
Re: Re: Reason
It assumes a binary state - either no god, or the god of 1 particular religion. Depending on how you count, there are at least 7 or 8 major religions in the world. Of those, there are literally thousands of sects and offshoots, all of which claim to be the correct and only way to receive the rewards promised.
The wager also fails to consider a key aspect of what most religions claim - that their god is omniscient and would know whether someone taking the wager really has the beliefs, or is faking it.
On the post: UK Pensioner Could Face Arrest For Atheist Poster
Re:
And atheists could say the same thing about every evangelical that insists I'm going to hell, insists all homosexuals are going to hell, insists on teaching everyone's children their fairy tales in science classes, insists... oh heck, I could go on all day.
Each year about 160,000 Christians are martyred simply for their chosen belief, not taking into consideration all the verbal and physical abuse/torture, suppression and intolerance, much of it being caused by atheist (communist) and muslim governments
That you see atheism as identical to communism shows how tragically misinformed you are. Communism is a belief structure built much the same way as religions - communism has beliefs unsupportable by evidence, belief in a glorious (radiant) future, and even a holy book - although whether it was the original holy book of Marx, or the latest revelations of Mao is equivalent to a religious sect.
I've yet to hear horror stories about atheists being persecuted by Christians for their non-belief.
Then you're not listening. As an atheist living in the south (aka The Bible Belt), I have a few of my own, and hear plenty of others. Though, admittedly, we generally don't have it as bad as homosexuals, who get persecuted by Christians more than atheists.
On the post: UK Pensioner Could Face Arrest For Atheist Poster
Re: NSS
If you read the link, it says exactly why he did it:
"I am an atheist and I feel people are being misled by religion. I wanted to show people that if they thought they were alone there was at least one other person who thought that."
As an atheist myself, I understand that exactly. For years growing up, I knew religion was a crock - but I was too scared to say it because I thought I was the only one. Only after hearing many others "come out of the closet" was I able to have the courage to stand up and tell my friends, family, and now even strangers my feelings.
On the post: Former Righthaven CEO Fights Back; Claims As The Manager Of The Manager Of Righthaven He's Still In Power
Jealous
On the post: DailyDirt: Who's Going To Clean Up All The Space Junk?
Errr. So what stops this from hitting all the satellites and stuff that we want to keep working? Being effectively sandblasted in space sounds like a bad thing for delicate antenna and other sensitive instruments.
On the post: James Watson, Co-Discoverer Of DNA's Structure, Says 'Patenting Human Genes Was Lunacy'
Germlines
Would a potential parent with a patented sequence have to get permission from the patent holder before procreating? What about not wearing a condom during sex, or donating sperm? Would the child be bound by some contract that was entered into before they were born? The consequences here are quite staggering with any gene patents in the picture.
Or even without germline therapies, what happens if a patented sequence is the same as one that arose naturally through random mutation? We can't get independent invention sorted out, what makes anyone think we could even remotely handle that in our legal system?
On the post: Crowdfunded Album Leaps Onto The Charts, Sells More Than Rihanna And Coldplay
Re: Re: Re: Re:
I can see an artist who is not good at dealing with the public hiring a good PR agent to post on their behalf working well. The artist accepts that they "suck at twitter" and tells their fans that, and gets a partner to do that well.
As long as everyone is upfront and honest about what it is and why - so the artist really can spend time on their art - most fans (and the kind of fans you really want anyway) would have no trouble with it. As long as the agent isn't posting fake stuff, or being lame (in whatever definition the fans of that artist think), it'd be great.
It may not work for the labels, but it could work for an artist who doesn't want to put the work into PR themselves.
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