dimanche 31 août 2014

Are you here right now and can help? -- Javascript

Hello, all!



I'm working with a web designer on a site and am under deadline and there is an issue with Chrome and JavaScript. I'm looking for someone who knows JavaScript well and is around like right this second. If that's you, let me know! I have a bit of money I can send your way if you can help get this crap working.



Thanks!





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Lesbians are so-o-o-o-o fat and ...

... THIS IS SCIENCE DAMMIT!



Sexual orientation and obesity: test of a gendered biopsychosocial model

National Institutes of Health (US government official site)








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Expert Help Please

On another forum I frequent a poster put this tidbit together:


Quote:








A theory tries to encapsulate reality within the framework of mathematics, a theory is not reality but an approximation of reality under certain conditions and restrictions, there will be theories which will displace general relativity in the future. Relativity is obviously incorrect in describing the entirety of the universe and it says nothing about the strong,weak, and electromagnetic force's relation to space time.



The cosmic background radiation, we claim to have a picture of the universe when it was just an infant. Photons move at the speed of light, if the universe expanded at less than the speed of light those photons would have been long gone. If the universe expanded at the speed of light, those photons would be dangling at the edge of the universe and we would not be able to capture them into a photograph. It is only when the universe does not respect the speed of light, and expands many fold faster than the speed of light does taking a photo of our baby universe be possible.



I'm just not knowledgeable to dissect this and put the errors in laymans terms.



Could someone please tell me what's wrong with this? I know the theory definition isn't correct and I'm sure this is a product of the alimentary canal but I simply don't know why.



Thanks



ETA: Forgot to mention he says FTL speeds have been exceeded by a factor of a million or so. I disagreed. We were talking initially about ftl radio or TV at the time and how an alien race couldn't communicate from outside the solar system because of the SOL limitation.





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Senator John McCain and ISIS

it appears to be a fact that McCain met with several leaders of ISIS in May, 2013.



http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com...muahmmad-noor/





It is also a fact that McCain and Graham met with Saudi Prince Bandar to encourage him to fund ISIS




Quote:








“Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar,” John McCain told CNN’s Candy Crowley in January 2014. “Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar, and for our Qatari friends,” the senator said once again a month later, at the Munich Security Conference.



McCain was praising Prince Bandar bin Sultan, then the head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence services and a former ambassador to the United States, for supporting forces fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham had previously met with Bandar to encourage the Saudis to arm Syrian rebel forces.



http://ift.tt/1uh9BQD



So, by all accounts, McCain is guilty of material support of terrorists.



Or is he?



any opinions?





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Can you Pass the UK citizenship test?

more one for UK people but anyone else have a stab at it



I got 23 out of 24



http://ift.tt/Y3Xv3u





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What causes cancer? According to the Daily Mail....






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Why do more women accept the findings of climate scientists than men?

It has been shown in another thread that a higher percentage of women accept that climate change is happening than men. The difference according to a 2010 poll is about 14%. I think it would be interesting to explore the reasons for this difference.



Note: The poll is limited to the US.



I'll leave the floor open for ideas.



ETA: Link to Gallup poll.





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Thunderbird Help

Can anybody help me configure Thunderbird? The one I have is the Mac version 31.0, but I assume all the latest versions on other OSs should work the same.



I want to minimize the local disk space it uses, but I want to keep all my emails on the remote server. It seems it can only do the other way around (keep everything local, and delete on the remote server), or I am overlooking something.



I'm looking at the "Synchronization & Storage" options right now. Under "Disk Space", there are two blocks. The first one refers to Synchronization, and I have set it up to only synchronize the most recent 30 Days. That's fine. I want it that way, but I also want it to delete older messages on my local drive, but keep them on the remote server. The email providers nowadays provide vastly more disk space than I ever need, and I do not want to let that offering go to waste. The email accounts are not important enough to me to keep local copies, but important enough that I want to keep a certain safeguard to access them if the need arises.



So the second block should take of that, but it says: "To recover disk space, old messages can be permanently deleted, both local copies and originals on the remote server." It keeps everything synchronized, but only allows the local copy to be the important one. It won't allow to turn it around. Or am I missing something?



The iPad Mail works exactly as I want it. Alas, the Apple Mail on Mavericks has some serious bugs working with large IMAP/Gmail accounts, so I switched.



If Thunderbird doesn't allow this configuration, does anybody know of another email client that would allow this? I could always use the browser interface, of course, but I have a few email accounts, and checking them all with the browser is not completely user friendly. I like the convenience of a client that is setup for all accounts.





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Here's a thread about Libya

Doesn't really make the news much lately, does it? But when it makes it, it's quite crass stuff like a couple of airliners burning on the airport. What's up? Anybody got good sources? I know there's a "rogue" General, a puppet regime and a bunch of Islamist militias. And just had this in my twitter timeline:















YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the JREF. The JREF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.
I AGREE



It says that that's the US embassy in Tripoli today. Nice pool. From the distinct absence of alluhakhbarking, I suppose these are the good guys?





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Why the US police kill so many people.

The reason why the US police kill so many people is because they have a very high rate of shots compared to other countries, for example



http://ift.tt/1ovRvWh



In one year German police used 85 bullets in total and some were shot at animals. The report notes two individual US police shootings that involved 84 and 90 shots fired at one person.





http://ift.tt/1Cg1Yj1



Michael Brown had six shots fired at him. That is one more than the British police fired in the whole of 2011/12 and of the five only two were killed.



The UK police are no where near as likely to keep on firing as the US police, indeed the most shots fired in one incident I can find is 11 bullets used against Jean Charles de Menezes a Brazilian mistaken for a terrorist and shot on the London tube in 2005. Then eight shots were fired by police at the two males who killed soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013. Both survived and are now in prison for life.



Here the Michigan Police shoot a man 46 times.



http://ift.tt/1ovRvWj



So the evidence is of US police officers having a lack of restraint and they just keep firing, so reducing the chances of people living and justice being served. Yet the UK and Germany manage not to do that.





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Protostar to main sequence - how long?

I'm reading up on stellar evolution and I can find lots of details about the timescales of lots of different parts, but nothing specific for how long the transition between protostar and main sequence star takes. The most specific thing I can find is that this happens "relatively quickly", but as we're talking about a timescale of millions of years, that's not particularly precise.



My question is, if you were an observer of a protostar which had just reached 10 million Kelvin and therefore was just on the brink of beginning fusion, how long would it be, approximately, before you could say that the object you're looking at was no longer a protostar but was instead a main sequence star? In other words, how long does the ignition phase of a star last?





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Teach the controversy!

Lets start a campaign to demand that evolutionary theory be taught in Sunday schools. :D





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samedi 30 août 2014

Cracked: 5 Most Misguided Uses of the word 'Quantum'

From today:

http://ift.tt/1ov62l7



You don't need to be a psychic to predict what these advertisers are trying to sell. It's all there: sex, homeopathy, fad dieting, detergent (WTF?) and finally, everything Deepak Chopra.



So yeah. Rather than looking up the actual definition of the word, or doing the least amount of research into quantum mechanics, they just throw it around because it's a cool-sounding "scientific" word that makes them seem like they have more credibility. It's enough to make me want to quantum hurl. (Wait, how would that work?)



I have lots more to say about Chopra, but the article does it better than I could.





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Obama: Russian "Incursion" Into Ukraine

"On Thursday the North Atlantic Treaty Organization released satellite images showing Russian combat forces engaged in Ukraine and termed the action “illegal”. NATO says at least 1,000 Russian troops are operating within Ukraine, with another 20,000 arrayed along the nearby border."



...





Although Washington carefully continues to call the situation an “incursion” rather than an “invasion” Foreign Minister John Baird on Thursday termed it “a very active invasion” and denounced Mr. Putin’s “shameless dishonesty.




http://ift.tt/1ov64t2



Really, Obama?



I voted for Obama. Twice! But what the hell happened to him after 2012? First he asked for my support to bomb Syria for crossing a "red line", now he's kowtowing to Putin??? WTF??



ETA: If Russia continues with their invasion, and takes over Eastern Ukraine, what will this do for Romney's chances in 2016? During his debate performance he called Russia our biggest geopolitical threat. That is looking more and more prophetic.





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Light was created on both the 1st and 4th days of Genesis

One could speculate the first day of light was the Big Bang. That be most interesting because nobody back then but God Almighty himself, and his spokesperson Moses, could only have been privy to this.

But if the sun were created on the 4th day, there is another little problem; vegetation was created on day 3. And if a day to God is like a thousand years, then the vegetation would have died.

Thoughts?





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Timeline of the Hebrew Peoples - Online Data Flow Map - Seeking Help

Alright, so this is what I have currently:

http://ift.tt/1vyDAY1



It's fine and all, but it's also static and just an image.

Any time it's updated, the entire image has to be edited and uploaded.

It also doesn't allow a user to try out their own sets of data. If they wanted to change dates to input an hypothesis' interactions with other known components of the Hebrew timeline, they would not be able to do so (for instance, what if someone wanted to see what the timeline of High Priests plotted like along side, or what if they wanted to change the dates of the Documentary hypothesis rates, or what if they wanted to include some noted Archaeological finds and their given dates).



In other words, it's not as helpful to "open source" research as much as it could be.



I understand how, conceptually, to accomplish these feature sets and I know the basic language components which would be needed to accomplish the basic essentials, but I am by no means proficient enough of a designer to actually put that all together in either an Ajax format or a simpler Css/Php/mysql design.



What I'm wondering is if there are any volunteers who would be willing to work on this project, because if this could be designed technically, then I think community research projects on many subjects of relation to the Hebrew culture could be carried out on JREF with rather fascinating results.



Cheers,

Jayson





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FBI errors throw forensic convictions into question

Hadn't seen this before and a quick search of the forum didn't show anything so here it is. I put it in the SI & CE section because the science isn't the important thing here, the social issues are.




Quote:








Holding your hands up and saying "we got things wrong" is a difficult thing to do. But that's exactly what the FBI and US Department of Justice have had to do this week, as the initial results were released of an ongoing review of thousands of criminal cases in which FBI scientists' testimony may have led to wrongful convictions – including for some people now on death row.




Quote:








This week it was reported that of the 10 per cent of cases reviewed so far, the "vast majority" contained errors. As a result, 136 defendants, including two on death row, will receive letters informing them of their right to DNA testing as a means of proving their innocence. This is in addition to 23 letters that went out last year, including to 14 people on death row.



:eye-poppi



http://ift.tt/1qUfrrv





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Dominos

Theoretically speaking, could a domino fall procession go on for an infinite period?





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California bans plastic grocery bags

http://ift.tt/1zY8E18





Meh. More paper now?





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New tablet?

My iPad 2 (about 3 years old...) is essentially "full". It's the 16 gig model. I suppose I could dump all the music and gain a bit of space, but I just went through the music and deleted a bunch of tunes I rarely listen to and didn't gain much ground at all.

I've joked that the thing will be run up to capacity by the constant App updates...



So I've been looking around.. The bigger iPad offerings are still pretty damned expensive.

Of course, you get the excellent Apple support and the impressive varieties of apps available....



I was looking at the Samsung Galaxy tab 4 at the bookstore... Pretty attractive. 300 bucks from Amazon. Expandable with an up to 64 gig micro SD card...

Most of the reviews are quite good... a complaint about occasional lack of Bluetooth connectivity (I use an external keyboard) and one complaint about refusal to honor a warranty claim on the Amazon site.



Anybody have any experience with these or similar "iPad Killers"?





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Michael Brown shooting II















Mod InfoThread continued from here.

Posted By:LashL













Quote:








Originally Posted by Aepervius (Post 10197424)

Would make far more sense to me than bullrushing a cop from so far away , while the cop has *already* fired at him and hit him.




Perhaps he started forward in a more or less upright position, then leaned in as he got closer, preparing to tackle.



*Once again, conceded in advance that this is conjecture in response to conjecture.*



Look at videos of American football players coming in to tackle other players, the mechanics of their motion looks pretty similar to what an imagined position might be for Mr. Brown based on impact wounds, further, it has been indicated that the final shots came from something like 5 feet away.





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I'll just leave this here

http://ift.tt/1u95mGM



Well the attacker should be prosecuted. And I'm not remotely happy that this happened. At all. No sir.





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Netbook Question - Videos

I have a netbook which I used sometimes because it is more portable and easier to hide than my laptop. Also acts a backup to my laptop (which I think the video just died.) :(

Netbook is a Gateway LT4010u with an Intel Atom N2600 and Intel GMA 3600.



Right now, I am running Ubuntu but there are no released video drivers for Ubuntu for the system. Thinking about going back to Windows 7 32 bit.



I was given it because the hard drive died and replaced the original 320 gb with a 500 gb as well as increasing ram to 2 gb.



I am curious if anybody has either the same netbook or one similar? The reason why is that when I play even DVD quality videos, it has trouble. VLC player does not work properly at all and stutters. Wondering if others (using Win 7) have these problem and what the highest quality videos you can play?





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vendredi 29 août 2014

Hard Drive Woes

This may seem like a relatively minor issue to the more tech literate among you, but this is my "head-scratcher". Since having moved into this apartment, (divorce was finalized last month...) I've suffered three hard drive failures on two separate laptops. One was my older reliable Toshiba - Windows 7. That was the first time. I woke up one day and the screen simply read "No operating system found". I had a 60% completed CCG deck I'd been working on stored on there. So, I opted to just pull the hard drive, and since the warranty was expired and they wouldn't help me, I got Toshiba to send me a set of start-up discs for $40.00 . In the meantime, I went to Best Buy and bought a brand new HP with Windows 8, plunking down a couple hundred I could ill-afford. (thus going without groceries for a few weeks) I didn't personally pull out the hard drive on the Toshiba, (being the techno-boob I am) I left that to some guy I found in the local Yellow Pages who charged me approximately $125.00. So, I'd written off the CCG deck I'd been working on, to take up a new CCG deck based on a favorite horror-movie franchise. I had one computer to work on, and one to watch the movies for inspiration while I worked; which meant down-loading fonts, saving stills, screen-saving, cut and pasting quotes, finding new color-schmemes, backgrounds, icons and figuring out rules and play-strategies. I'll probably never make any money, but it's fun to work on. Then, one day, I wake up and discovered that both computers have no back-up, and "no OS found". I went to Best Buy and bought a new hard drive for the Toshiba; HP took care of the theirs cause it was still under warranty. But I've lost money on this, and I'm stuck with two hard drives I've tried to re-boot using the start-up discs for the Toshiba using the "re-configure without losing user data" option, but to no avail. Did I lose all the data on those hard drives? Can it ever be retrieved? Is it gonna' cost me more?!





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Don't mess with "nuclear Russia," Putin warns






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In Search of... a US Iraq strategy

http://ift.tt/VUmwMJ



So I'm thinking while watching Jurassic Park this evening on Tivo - What's a forum for if we can't come up with a few strategies for dealing with the IS?



And let's try not to bash Obama too much. I like him, but damn he can be annoying sometimes. Sort of like if we took someone from 'The Big Bang Theory' and asked them to figure out what to do in the Mideast.



To get rolling, of all the poor choices in the region - I like the Kurds best and think we should support them as much as we can.



Secondly.



There's not much we in the US can do to prevent all the funding Europeans give to the terrorists by going there and then getting themselves held for ransom. The US policy is to not pay terrorist ransom demands. This seems unfair to the people who are kidnapped and happen to be Americans. They get killed as an example to the European governments to pay up or this is what will happen to their citizens.



But we could have a policy something like - if they kidnap someone and ask for say 10 million in ransom - we should immediately do 10 million worth of damage to something they want. Oh, bomb a convoy or traffic checkpoint in Mosul or something. I sort of am attracted to the idea of not wringing our hands helplessly but actually doing something in proportion to what is done to us. Of course, that's what they say they are doing.



But we are the good guys and they are the bad guys, and something that goes with the good guy role is not acting like indecisive wusses.





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Proposal; Gun cameras

What if all police weapons were required to have a gun camera which would record the aim point if the weapon is fired?



There could be an un-erasible flash memory in the device that would freeze frames surrounding a firing and possibly a prism that would simultaneously record the person firing the weapon.



We make tampering with one a 30-years no-parole felony.



Then we will have actual evidence to go with any police-involved shooting.



We have been putting a similar device onto fighter aircraft since at least WW2.



The device would be powered by a lithium cell which will give it a several year lifetime and it will have a prominent LED to say "replace me!"



And I suggest that the ownership of the device and the provision of the device should fall to the Federal DOJ, so there is one standard, and so that nobody can game this system.



If this works with police weapons, we could consider them mandatory equipment on ALL guns subsequently.



Thoughts?





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Online Trading Academy

So I was listening to the radio the other night and an infomercial for this outfit came on. Basically, their pitch was that they would teach you technical analysis of stock charts and you would be able to be a better-informed investor and would be able to make more money in the stock market. They had a half-day teaser trading seminar close by me so I figured I'd check it out.



Now, I'm not naive: I figured that there'd be about two hours of "instruction" and two hours of sales pitch in this four-hour seminar, and I was not disappointed in that regard. The instruction was OK, as far as it went; very basic stuff, shorting, puts and calls, limit orders and such. Where they went off the rails was when they gave me the handouts showing what their fees were for the advanced program. I figured it'd be a few hundred bucks; well, I was naive in that regard. They were asking $3,000 to $10,000 for their programs. I don't know who they're getting that money from, but sure as hell they weren't getting it from me.



I'm quite confident that this is some form of ripoff; has anyone else dealt with these people?





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Is a call to police for "suspicious behavior" enough for "reasonable suspicion"?

Im back again with more questions to you all at the Jref. A video has come come across my newsfeed once again. This time of a man refusing to show his identification to police officers because he claims he was doing "nothing wrong". He is under the impression that it is within his rights to deny his name to police officers, but what I have found seems to imply otherwise.



Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada, 542 U.S. 177 (2004),

"which held that the name disclosure did not violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures."



This verdict seems to give legal right for the police to ask for ID from any person with reasonable suspicion, and those refusing to do so are subject to arrest.



Now with this video, some might say that Minnesota does not have "stop and identify" laws, which would make the officers in the wrong; which is true, but from my reading they are allowed to do so if they have "reasonable suspicion". Which is where my question comes in. From what I could gather from articles and the video, some shop owners called the police for this man loitering outside their store, they thought he was up to something. Is a phone call to the police of suspicious activity enough for them to warrant "reasonable suspicion"?



On a side note, the man is also walking away from officers while one is trying to speak to him. In my mind, thats a slow moving chase. lol



http://ift.tt/1CbaNdG





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why don't those advertising to buy gold, buy the gold themselves?!

Or DO they. I hear these ads on the radio saying it is predicted t

hat gold will hit $2000 an ounce. Thoughts?





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I got a virus warning with a telephone number to call

A virus warning popped up on my computer and it had a number to call to get rid of the threat. I'm certain its a scam as I would never allow someone access to my machine. I'm thinking of renstalling everything. When I tried to get of the message it wouldn't go away and I had to restart. So far no sign of it. I did a Norton scan but I doubt if that will keep it away forever.



Suggestion?





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James Randi (and Martin Gardner's estate) are seeking help from historians of magic

I've never posted in this subforum before and I don't know that this is where this should go, but it's a start.



James Randi is helping the Martin Gardner estate look for some videos. Here are the details:



http://ift.tt/1qnTU9E



Help if you can. And if you can't help, you might know someone who can.



Thanks,



Ward





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Victor J. Stenger passed away Aug 28th

Sad news: I was informed that Victor J. Stenger passed away yesterday.

According to family, it was unexpected, and they will be holding the memorial service at their home in Hawaii.



Wikipedia: Victor J. StengerWP





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monitor bug





This guy has been running around inside my monitor for the last two days.



How long can an ant or spider (not sure which it is) live without food and water, and with frequent activity?





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Best pareidolia. EVER!

If some are Jesus' face, could this be Mary flashing her...

http://ift.tt/1nCvyoY



Yeah, I know. I'm on the highway to Hell.





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1400 Children Raped, Police Turn a Blind Eye OUt of Fear of Being Thought 'racist'

Many of the children were gang raped by hundreds of men. The perpetrators were Pakistani men who apparently quickly learned that it was very easy to gang rape children because the authorities turned a blind eye. This is a huge scandal, surprised none of our British posters have brought it up yet. There are many articles about it online, as it is breaking news. Several people have acknowledged that they didn't want to appear to be racist, so they didn't pursue the cases. Apparently Pakistanis actually do have a "rape culture".




Quote:








Around 1,400 children were sexually exploited in one town over a 16-year period, a damning report has said.





Professor Alexis Jay, who wrote the report, said she found examples of "children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally-violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone".



Prof Jay said: "They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten and intimidated."

She said she found that girls as young as 11 had been raped by large numbers of men.

The report said failures of the political and officer leadership of Rotherham Council over the first 12 years she looked at were "blatant" as the seriousness of the problem was underplayed by senior managers and was not seen as a priority by South Yorkshire Police.









http://ift.tt/1vrd6aK





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Auschwitz Chic Fails to Catch On

In another* (isn't there one every week?) mind-bogglingly stupid move by a corporation, Zara (described as "the Spanish giant clothing company" in several articles) decided to introduce kids' pyjamas styled a little too similarly to Nazi Concentration Camp prisoners' outfits.



http://ift.tt/1sNr6qu



Ah, but... once they caught the error, they announced that all the offensive pajamas were to be pulled off the shelves and "exterminated". No, Central Scrutinizer is not writing the news, now.



*In fact, this kind of stupidity has become so common that I wasn't going to post about this when I first saw it a couple of days ago. When a friend forwarded me the "exterminated" comment, though, I figured I owed it to you guys. You may still have an opportunity to short their stock before they introduce their Michael Vick Drowned Puppy Bedroom Slippers.





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jeudi 28 août 2014

WA gun bkdg check initiative.

In the recent past there have been various attempts at introducing universal bkgd checks for gun buyers in WA State. It started out with HB 1588; this bill had more than one revision. At one time concealed pistol license holders were exempt and the buyer was to request a bkgd check from the police. Turns out that some county sheriffs will not supply a bkgd check (I called to ask) and a CPL costs $60. Eventually the bill became Initiative 594. It failed to get through the House Judiciary Committee even though the Chair was supportive. It’s due to appear on the November ballot. The text is here;

http://ift.tt/1pnWCOr



The Washington Association for Gun Responsibility is the major force behind the bill. http://ift.tt/1kIx2zW I communicated with them occasionally when they were trying to push HB 1588 and I-594 through the House in Olympia. I support bkgd checks for all (not a popular position with many gun owners) but not the way the WAGR wants to do it. I found the WAGR to be as arrogant as the NRA and just as aggressive in hitting up people for money. They were reluctant to admit to any errors made (such as I-594 is not a registration scheme) and seem to be loath to hear input from WA residents.



I-594 requires that a anyone who receives a firearm (with some exceptions) obtain a bkgd check from an FFL (federal firearm licensee) prior to the actual transfer. An FFL is not allowed to use NICS unless making a sale from their inventory, so they are required to follow all federal regulations when facilitating the transfer including keeping a record of the sale. I-594 defines a transfer as “the intended delivery of a firearm to another person without consideration of payment or promise of payment including, but not limited to, gifts and loans.” This means if I hand one of my guns to a person to let him or her try it out at the range, I’ve transferred it to them.



There are some exceptions to transfers requiring a bkgd check. Antique firearms are exempt, as are transfers between immediate family members (as defined) which are a bona fide gift, temporary transfers to prevent imminent death, LEO on duty, gunsmith receiving guns for repair. An exception is also made for guns stored at established shooting ranges, at organized competitions, for training children and for those who inherit. I’m not certain why transfers to kids are allowed with fewer restrictions.



I-594 allows an FFL to charge a “fee that reflects the fair market value of the administrative costs and efforts incurred….”. Kind of a broad statement; previous versions had a dollar amount. As far as I can tell there is no requirement that the FFL actually facilitate the transfer at all. I know one FFL that charges $100 for a transfer that is not a sale from his inventory or a consignment. For some people this initiative is just a way to prohibit private sales or at least make them much more expensive.



The way this will most affect me is during my volunteer work at the local gun club. When I work as a range safety officer I typically bring a few guns along to shoot. I frequently offer new shooters the chance to shoot some of my firearms if they are not comfortable with whatever their spouse/friend bought to the range. If I-594 passes I will not be able to do this legally unless I’m permitted to store my guns at the club (not currently allowed by club policy). The club sponsors family fun days so that persons who want to learn more about firearms can come by and shoot. Club members supply their personal firearms. This will also be prohibited unless we turn the event into a competition.



I-594 is aimed at law abiding gun owners and future gun owners. It does nothing to improve reporting of data to NICS. Ask just about any legal gun owner what kind of threat it is to let a friend try a few rounds through their gun and you will probably get a funny look from them.



Not all of the WA police are pleased to see the initiative on the ballot. http://ift.tt/1qlVOHQ . I’ve also read that WACOPS does not support I-594.



The initiative is getting lots of press, good and bad. I think it won't pass in November.



Ranb





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Ruby Ridge a Hoax - Vicki Weaver Alive!

Who knew that "false flag" ops go back to the Bush 41 administration? And that the government hatches these hoaxes to make itself look bad? :boggled:















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I AGREE





It's obvious nonsense, but does anyone here know anything about searching the Social Security Death Index?



I'm just waiting for these "truther" idiots to begin harassing Ms. Youngblood, or even Randy Weaver, the same as they've done at Sandy Hook.





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About Meditation............

Is meditation real or woo?





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The Mystery Of Garabandal



Quote:








The Mystery Of Garabandal



The girls were under such pressure to call up the apparition for visiting pilgrims and townspeople that they occasionally faked ecstasies so as not to disappoint. There was unequal distribution of "Mary Time" between the four girls which led to jealousy between them.





Hm.



I don't know if it's worth it for the cheep thrills.



P.S. Wasn't Garabandal a character on Babylon 5?





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Psychic nephew?

The story: For the last couple years, before taking the kids to the State Fair, I take them to the credit union with the bucket of change I've amassed in the last several months. There I get it counted and cashed out in bills. I let the kids guess how much it will be (without going over). This year I had them write their guesses on my only available pieces of paper, State Fair coupons. I then award the winners in diminishing amounts (but everyone gets something).



One nephew guessed the below. I had the only pen so he did not have an opportunity to change it after we got the total. I found this to be so amazing (and a little freaky) I awarded him an extra $5.







This was after I had given him a spiel just that morning about how no psychics had yet demonstrated a true ability under proper observation condtions. He finished off this incident with "So, you still think there's no such thing as psychics?"



<sigh>





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Supersonic Submarine?

http://ift.tt/1AXxSyU



"Now this new Chinese research claims they have found a way to generate a much bigger air bubble, drastically reducing friction of large underwater vessels. They say they would be able to create a full-size supercavitating submarine capable of reaching the speed of sound underwater—about 3603 mph (5,800km/h). "



Sorry if this is a duplicate thread.

:)



Sounds like hooey





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Comparison of military personal kit over the centuries.

A fascinating pictorial article comparing notional personal equipment of soldiers

over the centuries.

Slideshow.

Details.





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Racetrack Playa mystery in Death Valley solved

http://ift.tt/1AXaSQK



Ice is apparently what moves the rocks.





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UK - Conservative MP switches to UKIP

Unhappy with the current state of parliament in general and the Conservative party in particular, Douglas Carswell is standing down as a Conservative MP and seeking election as a UKIP MP in a by-election.



http://ift.tt/1qCymqP



It's unusual (and encouraging) that he has stood down rather than just changing parties. UKIP must be pretty confident of winning the seat though. It's (unfortunately) good marketing from UKIP and means that they may have a second person they can wheel out in front of the cameras





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Science is bad!

I got your attention, right?!! :)



Well, I leave science be for a moment and claim something else.



Me: Religion is bad!

Someone: How do you know that?

Me: Religion does more bad than good!

Someone: How do you know that?

Me: The world would be a better place if we replaced religion with science!

Someone: How do you know that? Who is that we? With what authority do you speak as a we and for all the world? How do you intend to replace religion? Can science do normative claims?



That is the short version and a practical example of what it means to be a skeptic. It is also why skeptics can be a pain in ***.

I as a human of course act and do stuff, but the moment someone goes we and the world, I go skeptic. That has nothing in particular to do with religion or politics, rather the moment someone in practice "plays" we and the world, I "bite" as a skeptic.

Someone: Why do you do that? Can't we agree that world would be a better place if we all became rational, logical, coherent and only used evidence and dropped beliefs?

Me: How do you know that this is possible?



Now I will answer, if you want to discuss how we might achieve a better world; i.e. I will try to be positive. But if you intent to go the route of in effect - "I only accept non-subjective evidence" I will "bite". That is philosophy, not science and it has been tried and it doesn't work.

So yes, I will try to be positive and not skeptical/negative about a better world, but I don't do - "I know with rationality, logical, objectivity, coherence and evidence and without subjective beliefs how we can achieve a better world".

It has been tried for over 2000 years now, both in philosophy and religion and it doesn't work!!!

So if you think you can do it using science, you are in all likelihood not doing science, but philosophy and/or religion. You just haven't realized it!



With regards





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GOP makes retro platformer. Fails due to poetic justice.



Quote:








Many people believe the Republican Party has a fairly good shot of taking back the US Senate this November. But to help advance that cause, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) — or one of its interns, probably — just launched a new game called Mission Majority. You play as Giopi (get it?), a pixelated elephant who looks like he belongs in the good 'ole 16-bit era, but is instead doing his best to persevere in a modern world.



Giopi says he's a hopeful GOP volunteer just trying to cut through the "red tape and regulations" standing between Republicans and a Senate majority that would help the right push its legislative agenda. Throughout the run-and-jump platformer, you'll have to overcome "job-destroying taxers" and other foes who represent President Obama, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, and basically everything Democrats stand for.



http://ift.tt/1nGQefv



The game doesn't work. (Kind of like Obamacare website?) A software engineer blames it on ignoring race conditions.





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mercredi 27 août 2014

Are you always arrested if you shoot someone? (law buffs?)

Was having a conversation on facebook; it happened to spill into the Zimermman case mind you, and a friend stated to me "if you shoot someone you always get arrested".



First off, absolutes never sit well with me and usually signify something is wrong. "Always" just doesnt seem like an accurate assessment of all shooting cases, whether it be murder, self defense, an accident in war ect...



So my question is to you law buffs, do you always get arrested after shooting no matter the circumstances?



I tend to believe that circumstances arise that may not require the police to arrest someone who shot another person, but I may be wrong. Like if a gunman goes crazy in a movie theater shooting everyone, and a concealed carry owner takes him out, does that person get arrested no matter what? I dont think so, but please feel free to inform me.



I also believe it probably differs from state to state, and I also thought I read down in Florida they couldnt just arrest people for certain actions or what not.





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Solar panel question

I'm probably going to have to build a garage.



My current garage is a converted chicken coop/granary, and it's showing every minute of its hundred and ten years.



I know exactly what I want as far as size, flooring, etc. goes, but the thought ran through my mind that this would be a great opportunity to put our deadbeat Sun to work for Howie.



Would it be economically viable to mount some solar panels on the roof to run (or help run) things like battery chargers, ventilation fans, parts washer etc.? I have at least two twelve volt batteries charging pretty much all the time, and I thought it might be cool to keep them running for free (or close to free). There will be a refrigerator, too. Any chance of keeping my beer cold using the Sun? Could solar power keep my drill batteries charged, so I can make holes in things without paying The Man? How about in-floor heating? Can that be solar powered? I don't want to do all these things at the same time, it's just a three car garage, not a football field sized building, but are any of them worth trying?



When (if) you answer, please assume that I don't know anything about solar energy, because I don't.





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To boycott company because of dog torturing CEO

Not sure if this link will work because censorship and stuff but if you do manage to work your way into it you'll see 1%er and Job Creator CEO Desmond Hague torturing his dog for kicks (by using literal kicks) in an elevator he apparently didn't know had newfangled things called video cameras installed in it.



http://ift.tt/1C3hT3P



to get the link to work replace those asterisks with a word that describes a jerk.



His company is called Centerplate and they make their money by providing those $18 hot dogs you can buy in pro sports stadiums.



Specifically these stadia:



Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara

Notre Dame

Tropicana Field, Tampa

Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego

Fedex Field, Washington, DC

Colonial Life Arena At the University of South Carolina

KFC Yum! Center (a real thing at the University of Louisville)

Safeco Field, Seattle

AT&T Park, San Francisco

Superdome, New Orleans

Belmont Park, New York

Sun Life Stadium, Miami



Now this raises the issue of whether I should boycott their highly priced products when I go to AT&T park later this month. On the one hand I'd hate to subsidize a company that employs a gleeful dog torturer. On the other hand boycotting said company would make me a dirty communist according to Fox News commentator Sean Hannity.



So....what to do?





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Your favorite history-oriented forum?

I visit historum.com and armchairgeneral.com regularly. Others more spottily.





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Parking behavior and economic growth...

Most are familiar with the "marshmallow test" where kids are presented a marshmallow and told they can either eat it immediately... Or if they wait 5 minutes they get two...



And the supposed indication that those who delay gratification have generally better life-outcomes; higher salaries, better jobs, etc.



Researchers noted that folks tend to either back in to parking spaces, usually with some difficulty, which means they can then pull out easily, or to pull in directly, which means they then have to back out carefully...

The ratio of folks that do these things varies sharply by countries... We Americans... Only 6-7% back in. In China, some 85% back in.

The researchers figured this was a form of "delayed gratification", and claimed to see a correlation between this behavior and economic growth rates of the respective countries.



This was all on a Morning Edition segment...



I dunno. I watch people here at the university all the time struggle to back into parking spaces. Usually they are terrible at it; backing and filling and backing and filling and getting out of the car to see if they are within the lines...

Why go to all that trouble?



But there is a solid reason in our case at least, better visibility of oncoming traffic when you leave. If you're trying to back out, and you're flanked by a big van or SUV... You can't see. Better to pull out, which allows you to see much quicker than if you were backing.



We coppers do this.... So we can pull out quickly if we get a call.



The article did mention that the research needs more work....





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UFO caught on tape.






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What will it take to prove the existence of God the Creator?

What will it take to prove the existence of God the Creator?



From the Scriptures it seems vital for God (Yahweh the God who revealed himself to man) to furnish evidence of his existence.



I have my own personal revelation from GOD, but I cannot use that as evidence—it has to be something external.



I believe that we are living in the days where God will have to reveal himself in a way that all people will know without a doubt, that the God of Israel is the only Creator, and all other so called gods are the imagination of man, trying to plagiarise.





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mardi 26 août 2014

Child kills shooting instructor with gun

Evidently in Dolan Springs, Arizona, a nine-year-old girl being taught how to shoot an automatic Uzi somehow inexplicably lost control of the weapon due to recoil, resulting in her instructor being shot in the head and killed. Ruled an accident.





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Pilot Photographs Mysterious Ocean Lights

A pilot, JPC van Heijst, photographed this from 34000 feet two days ago, over the Pacific and not far from Kamchatka:



http://ift.tt/1AMYu5R



As you can see from his title, he suspects it's an undersea eruption of some sort.



Can anyone add any more information? I put this in Science as I'm hoping someone will have seen this phenomenon before and can resolve it quickly.



Whatever it is, to appear that size from that altitude, it must be at least a mile wide.





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Apparently, the debate is over.






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Another Second Amendment win in Georgia!

Yay! Another gun rights victory!



Georgia restores gun rights to ex-cop who attempted to rape a woman with his gun




Quote:








According to the record in Krauss’ trial, the former officer was dispatched to the home of a woman who called 911 alleging that her husband had hit her. Rather than arresting the husband, however, Krauss asked the victim to ride with him in his police car. Once she was in his car, “Krauss told the victim that he could take her to jail if he wanted to” or, if she did not want to be arrested, she could have sex with him instead. Krauss’ words, according to the court opinion, were “[w]e can go to the motel or you can go to jail.”



At the motel, Krauss drew his service weapon and told the woman that he wanted to anally penetrate her with the gun. When she refused, and began to cry, “Krauss then pushed her back, pulled off her pants, and had sex with her.” And then he drove her home to the same husband that led her to call the police in the first place.



In addition to his conviction for sexual assault, Krauss was also charged with several other instances of harassment or disturbing physical violence, including beating a prisoner “so severely the man’s brain bled” and threatening to file false charges against another man in order to have sex with his wife, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But neither those allegations nor his sexual assault conviction have permanently prevented Krauss from owning firearms; he regained that right in 2013.



And for the win:




Quote:








But, as the Journal-Constitution notes in its recent exposé on Georgia’s lax gun rights restoration, Krauss is just one of nearly 400 convicted violent offenders to regain access to firearms over a six-year period. Of the 358 violent felons who had their gun rights reinstated, 44 had committed sex crimes and 32 had killed another person.








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Fed. Judge: California 10 Day waiting period unconstitutional

U.S. District Court Judge Anthony W. Ishii ruled that requiring individuals that have previously been cleared through background check or Certificate of Eligibility to go through the state's 10 day waiting period to take possession of a firearm is unconstitutional.



http://ift.tt/1tGsg94



My bet is that after AG Harris recovers from shock they'll appeal, but on this narrow issue the state has very little traction.





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Why is chocolate so painful with aphtae/canker sores/mouth ulcers?

I've had moderate to major aphtae all my life - it doesn't cause huge problems, but the sores are usually large (~1cm or more), last for a long time, and usually occupy my gums, sometimes my cheeks. Also, going to the dentist sucks when you have them. Nothing like randomly yelling from pain when something rubs against your face lightly...



Anyway, certain foods hurt, of course. Spiciness can be a bit annoying, but not that bad. Hot coffee and tea, of course. But NOTHING hurts me as much as chocolate. Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is absolutely HORRIBLY painful when I have a bad sore, and wincing is absolutely unavoidable when 'enjoying' a pretzel.



I can't figure out what possible component of chocolate could trigger such pain. Does anyone have a clue?





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Assembly Bill 1912. Seriously?

http://ift.tt/1t9Es4g



So I had to wonder, was there something "insignificant" that could have kept this out of our children's classrooms? Or maybe the opposition was just so great that... nah, never mind. :boggled:





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Fish Oil supplements

Anyone have any good recommendations for fish oil supplements that are high in EPA, say at least 1,000 mg per pill? I see GNC seems to have some but I'm sure there are others than may be cheaper.





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What is going on with google image search?

I noticed something weird with google image search. If you search for any image, and then click on one of the results, the "related images" section and some of the images along the top all show the same image of a car accident in what appears to be russia (or some other eastern european location).



Not just happening on my computer.



Edit:

Just found this story about it http://ift.tt/1ltMG5b





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Zip File Viewer

Is there a program that can show me the contents of a zip archive without opening, and without being able to write to the medium it's on? Preferably Mac, but doesn't need to be.



I was going through some old CD/DVD-ROMs, and was finding a bunch full of zip files. I have a vague recollection what is in them, but want to make sure. I found an app called "Zip View" in the Mac App Store, which does show the contents of a zip file without unpacking, but it needs to be able to write to the file, which it obviously cannot do while the zip file is still on the optical disc. Now, if I copy the zip file to a hard drive, any time savings I would have by not unpacking is moot, anyway, but I want to avoid copying all this stuff just to check if it's worth saving. It's quite a lot.





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We all have our faults.

I live on the New Madrid fault line, and we're told we're "overdue" for a Big One. This got me to wondering: Where is/are the "most overdue" earthquake zone(s)?





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Name of this classic Sci Fi novel

Many years ago I read a very early science fiction novel by an English author, and I have forgotten both the author and the book, and am hoping the members can help identification.



It was probably written around the turn of the century, I think before the First World War, so has as lot in common with classic authors like HG Wells and Jules Verne.



It was no pulp fiction, but a serious novel with classic sci-fi themes, extremely well written and readable; it reminded me a lot of War of the Worlds.



The general theme is of a scientist who creates a plant based lifeform, which is eventually formed into a spear wielding army as National defence force for England. Once deployed, after defeating England's enemies the army eventually turns on its creators and decimates the population. The soldiers have the unpleasant ability to produce spores even after being immobilised or "killed", and the spores themselves create havoc.



These spores were named mesoblasts or something like that.



Does this ring a bell with anyone?



I have trawled through many a list of classic sci-fi on-line, but none of the authors or book names sound familiar.



Thanks for any help!





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Moron apostate excommunicated

Beeb website story about woman who agitates for women to be allowed to become ordained in the moron church.



She is quoted at one point saying it is "absurd" that women cannot be ordained. Immediately thought how come these morons don't see just how absurd it is that the convicted conman Jospeh Smith was a prophet, along with all the nonsense about the gold plates etc etc.



Still, the more internal strife the better since it will no doubt cause further schism, and perhaps prompt more to leave the morons.



http://ift.tt/1paS8dO





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lundi 25 août 2014

You May Not Believe What the Feminists Are Angry About Now

This is one of those ones you can hardly believe is true. A couple of college kids invented a nail polish that can detect date rape drugs. You might think that this would win them accolades from the feminists. Guess again:




Quote:








Women are already expected to work hard to prevent themselves from becoming the victims of sexual assault. They’re told to avoid wearing revealing clothing, travel in groups, make sure they don’t get too drunk, and always keep a close eye on their drink. Now, remembering to put on anti-rape nail polish and discretely slip a finger into each drink might be added to that ever-growing checklist — something that actually reinforces a pervasive rape culture in our society.




Quote:








According to Alexandra Brodsky, one of the founders and current co-directors of Know Your IX, a survivor-led group working to address campus sexual assault, well-intentioned products like anti-rape nail polish can actually end up fueling victim blaming. Any college students who don’t use the special polish could open themselves up to criticism for failing to do everything in their power to prevent rape.



:eek:



Suppose for a second that some gal uses this stuff and realizes that her drink has been doctored and by whom. Couldn't she use this as evidence and bring charges against him? Suppose a couple of these cases happen and the creeps doing this realize that they could be the next one caught. It might cut down on the practice, which is a good thing, right?




Quote:








“The problem isn’t that women don’t know when there are roofies in their drink; the problem is people putting roofies in their drink in the first place,” Nagle pointed out.



And in a perfect world it wouldn't happen.





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Atheists who don't hate religion

As I've stated in the past, my personal stance as an atheist diverges from that of most other atheists, including some on these forums, in that I believe religion overall does more good than evil in the world. I'm bringing this disagreement out, up front, in the open so that you know where I'm coming from. I'm aware that there will be atheists who strongly object to what I'm saying, or am about to say. This is my opinion, and it's entirely subjective, based on my own personal experiences. However, I will still try to explain it in a way that makes sense.



Hate is a strong word. I realize that. I hope those who use it are also aware of that fact. I've heard from atheists who say, they may hate a given religion, but they hate all religions equally. To them I would ask, why? Why is it necessary to hate something you disagree with? Hate is just repackaged fear, so are you afraid of religious people or what they might do? I don't hate religion; I'm skeptical of its claims. I don't blame an entire religion when some of its adherents commit an abuse or atrocity, I blame the specific individuals who are guilty of the crime. I don't default to animosity towards religion or religious institutions, I have to judge each one individually based on its own merits or faults. Most of all, I don't prejudge or hate people just because they are religious.



I'm not a skeptic because I'm an atheist, I'm an atheist because I'm a skeptic. I am not wedded to the label of atheist. If some evidence comes along capable of changing my mind, that's exactly what I'll do. I approach religion the same way I approach any other skeptical topic, by asking questions in order to sort out the good from the bad, the true from the false. Every religion has done bad things in history, there's no denying that. However, one must not overlook the fact that these are the exceptions rather than the rule, and extremists do not represent the majority of people of faith.



Religion does in fact contribute a lot to modern society. It does good charity work. I've even donated goods to some of these charities myself, like the Salvation Army. It has been a source of much art and literature throughout history. It offers community and social cohesion to people who need it. It provides education to children. It helps people live happy, fulfilling lives, and I'm perfectly fine with that.



I once blamed religion for all our wars, and all the worst atrocities in history. However, this was a shortsighted worldview and a false cause fallacy. Psychologically speaking, religion is an ad hoc justification and reinforcing factor for one's existing morals and values. You cannot teach a child morals simply by giving him or her a Bible or Quran. Religion is often the facade and secondary motivating factor. Politics, territory, and socio-economic factors are at the root of what most would consider religious wars. Over time, I realized that even if these people had converted to atheism, they would still have killed each other for the same basic reasons. It's no surprise that humans have always done terrible things to each other. Our closest relatives in the animal kingdom will kill each other, no religion required.



I do believe religion has a proper place, and that's at one's house of worship or in the privacy of one's home. I have no problem with people who practice their religion peacefully. I'm not going to go out of my way to tell these people that they're wrong, or deluded, or that their beliefs are stupid and dangerous. However, when religion is brought into the public and people try to force it into our laws, then I have a problem. One's right to believe and worship as one chooses is limited by when it begins to infringe on the rights of others. If I want to know about your religion, I'll ask you. I don't need you to pull down your pants and wave it in my face.



I see no need for atheists to go out and try and convince religious people to see things their way. Proselytizing is what organized religion does, and one of the things I object to about it. So why should atheists imitate their methods? If someone has questions about atheism, or secularism, or humanism, by all means answer those questions. If someone challenges you with an alleged proof for God or other similarly BS claim, by all means counter them. However, it should not be a goal to deconvert the religious. Atheists should instead figure a way to tolerate the religious, because isn't tolerance what atheists want from them?



I will say this. Religion isn't inherently good or evil. It all depends on people and how they use it.



Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with me, what are your thoughts? I look forward to hearing from you.





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Bohemian grove

Why are the richest and most influential men in the world worshipping an owl?

And why sacrifice a doll that looks like a child?



If you have seen the videos. Perhaps it´s been dicussed here already.





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3 Parent babies?

http://ift.tt/1paOznY





"A private fertility clinic in the United States has launched an investigation into the health of 17 teenagers who were born as a result of a controversial IVF technique that produced the world’s first “three-parent” embryos more than 15 years ago, The Independent can reveal."





Makes child support a toughie.:confused:





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Court strikes California's 10-day wait for gun owners

Federal judge strikes down California gun purchase waiting period in some cases




Quote:








A federal judge in California has struck down a law that requires a 10-day waiting period for gun purchases, but only for current gun owners who have already passed a background check and those who have a permit or certificate of eligibility to own a gun.



Eastern District of California Judge Anthony W. Ishii said Monday that the waiting period provision violates the Second Amendment rights of those who have already been approved to own a gun. This includes those who have previously undergone a background check and own a gun, people with concealed-carry permits and people who have a state certificate of eligibility to own a gun.



First-time gun buyers would still be subject to the waiting period, which Ishii emphasized in his ruling.



Sylvester, et al v Harris [PDF]





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Jesuits and Roman catholics

I have nooooo idea if it is a conspiracy.



But IHS in their symbol MAY stand for ISIS HORUS SETH

The Egyptian trinity. Occult stuff..



Some claim it stands for Jesus. Well??

Only the top knows perhaps?





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Evidence that the spiritual is real

Hey!



Try this: Use ear plugs if you have. Easier to hear.

Listen for a sound in the middle of your head.



I hear a high pich tone. It´s not Tinnitus.



It´s the sound of conscious energy i read.



Can write alot more but late here now. But if you meditate on it you will notice amazing things. Have experienced that myself.



Can you hear?





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Hulu, Netflix, or ???

NVM Wrong forum





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Cracked.com:5 Successful People Who Everyone Forgets Are Exposed Frauds

Randi gets mentioned twice in this article as 3 of the 5 frauds are paranormal in nature (the other two are deluded wingnuts).



Have a looksee:



http://ift.tt/1qHmhwE



Depressing that debunking does so little sometimes.





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In defense of the BBC and crappy UK newspapers.

There are many media news network “alternative news sources”, including Al Jazeera, RT, available on the internet.

These networks might be likened to the “alternative” science channels on You tube where belief is often regarded as a good substitute for the truth, for example,



The Al Jazeera website has this to say;

The network's stated objective is "to give voice to untold stories, promote debate, and challenge established perceptions."



Does this sound like something you've heard before?



The BBC state the following;



"Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest".



I have subscribed to several UK newspapers the last forty years or so, including the Telegraph, Observer, and Guardian, while they do have their own political agendas they generally tend to stick to the facts. I also buy the New York Times International which is on par with the aforementioned.



The BBC has no peers!





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Active Shooter at Ft. Lee

Breaking news, no info other than reports of shooting/s.





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dimanche 24 août 2014

Child killed by "licensed caretaker" -- ignored warning signs

Clicked this article out of curiosity. Sometimes I have to shake my head at the stupidity.



Care Worker Faces Charges in Boy's Death




Quote:








A Bronx caretaker was arrested and charged in the death Friday of a 20-month-old boy who was beaten and scalded, the police said on Sunday.



Athena Skeeter, 40 years old, was looking after Cardell Williamson on Friday and told investigators she was wrestling with the boy when he suffered a number of blows to the body and was later burned in a tub of hot water, according to court records.



Ms. Skeeter, a licensed caretaker who was known in the neighborhood as a day-care worker, was charged with manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, police said. No information about her attorney was available.



The victim's father, Carlyle Williamson, 56, brought the child to Ms. Skeeter's second-floor apartment on College Avenue in the Claremont section of the Bronx at 6 a.m., according to court records.



Mr. Williamson had noticed his son's body was covered in bruises for the last six weeks and suspected Ms. Skeeter was hurting him despite excuses she would offer him.



For example, two weeks ago she said his shoes had been too tight, causing him to fall down the stairs, Mr. Williamson said. He also noticed his son had a black eye and busted lip.



"I don't know what to think. I lost my baby. My child was too young. I'm so sorry my kid was there. I feel helpless," he said.



Ms. Skeeter told investigators of the 44th Precinct Detective Squad that she wrestled with Cardell on Friday morning, first throwing him on a cluttered bed, then pulling him by his arm and leg before slamming him onto a hardwood floor, according to court records.



"I stepped on his stomach three times. I didn't use full force," Ms. Skeeter told investigators, according to court records.



Ms. Skeeter then threw her 3-year-old son on top of Cardell and stepped on his stomach three more times, according to court records.



"Cardell acted different after that. He started throwing up. His head kept tilting. He couldn't walk on his own," she said, according to court records.



Ms. Skeeter then rubbed cold water on the boy's face and left him in the bathtub while she left the room to remove a chair, she said, according to court records.



She came back to find the boy passed out in the water, which was steaming, she told investigators, according to court records.



First of all, when your 20-month-old child comes back from the babysitter covered in bruises, black eyes and busted lips, you do not keep sending him to that babysitter! It's not a case of missed warning signs, it's ignored warning signs. He probably should have reported her to the police the first time it happened, but at a minimum you don't send the child back there.



Oh, and she was a "licensed caretaker". What does that mean anyway? Apparently it doesn't mean you know how to care for toddlers.

Who gives out these "licenses"?





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[Ed] Male and Female Sexuality and Gender Roles

At parties and on internet message boards, it's an unpopular position to opine that, in general, men have a stronger or more insistent sexual urge than women -- a fact which explains many male social behaviors. Women (in my experience) and some men will often argue stridently against this position, with the unspoken upshot of their position seeming to be that, since it is not a physiological difference, men are inherently morally weak.



What is the general opinion of the skeptics and other members here? Are men who are married, or in long term relationships, driven to cheat on their partners more often than women? Are men more likely to seek out multiple sexual partners? And if so, is it because of physiological, that is anatomical or hormonal, differences? Or are social issues and enculturation processes in a patriarchal society at fault?



All questions and matters related to the above are considered on-topic here. Scientific data is certainly welcome, but so are anecdotes and opinions, which is why I've opted to put this in the Social Issues forum instead of the Science forum.



My own opinion is that yes, in general, men "cheat" more and are more likely to seek multiple partners. This distinction is largely physiological in origin, owing to a number of anatomical factors including the surface area of our external genitalia, the aggression-inducing qualities of testosterone, and the volume of our sexual fluids, which need to be released on a regular basis (rather than, say, monthly) for reasons of physical comfort and psychological peace.



What do you all think?





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A Virus Called Ebola and The Secret Club From Hell

A Virus Called Ebola and The Secret Club From Hell




Quote:








I disagree with those that have described Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian/American that single-handedly brought the deadly ebola virus into our shores, as a madman. He was not mad at all but just evil. He was a man that was on a mission. That mission was to spread the ebola virus to Nigeria and to infect and kill as many people as possible with it.



He was an evil man with an evil intention and purpose. Worst still he was not working alone. Some people, and I mean rich, powerful and well-connected people, were working with him. As a matter of fact they sent him on the mission.



They cultivated him, took care of him, paid him, brainwashed him, gave him all that he wanted in life and finally asked him to go on a suicide mission to destroy the lives of others and spread the deadly disease.



This was a clear case of bio-terrorism and Sawyer was simply a pawn in a bigger game and a wider picture. The motive of those who sent him was to spread fear and panic, to kill as many people as possible, to create a need for a solution to the problem, to prepare the ground for a new wonder drug that could cure ebola, to create a massive market for that drug and to ensure that there would be massive profits from its sale.



As usual it is the unbelieving, unprepared, undiscerning and naive Africans that have been used as the prime guinea pigs in this satanic venture. When will they stop destroying us and treating us with such contempt? When will they begin to see and treat us as human beings?



And who are "They" who are behind this? Why, the Illuminati of course!




Quote:








In order to get a clearer picture it is important to take note of the following observations. The forces that are behind this evil are well beyond America and they are inflicting as much evil on America, and indeed the entire western world, as they are on the rest of humanity. Africa and the African people are not their only victims and they are not their only prey. They prey on all of humanity and they feed on the flesh and drink the blood of us all regardless of where we come from. The roots of these forces are ancient and they are very real.



They pre-date America and they were established by a tiny group of deep-thinkers, spiritualists, intellectuals, seasoned occultists and Lucifereans led by Adam Weishaupt in a place called Bavaria in Germany on the European continent in 1776. They are known as the ”Illuminati” (meaning ”the Enlightened Ones”) and their activities are buried in absolute secrecy.



Their symbol and operational structure is the pyramid and they are fortified, strengthened and protected by numerous ancient cults and fraternities, secret societies, false religions, pagan rituals, the control of the worlds banking system and money supply and the total domination and control of world politics and the entire world system itself. They are empowered directly, through a very complex and strict hierachical system and command and control structure, by satan himself through his human agents and demons.



And where does out author find his inspiration? From our old pal David Icke of course:




Quote:








I leave readers to do their own research on these families and to find out their links to the Illuminati. I suggest that they start by reading the numerous works of Mr. David Icke, an utterly brilliant man that has been described by his detractors as ”the world’s leading conspiracy theorist”.



This would be hilarious if it weren't so deadly a subject, and if it weren't on a site that appears to have over 300,000 followers on Facebook.





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White House Aides Attending Brown Funeral

This is an incredibly stupid thing to do:



A) Whether one agrees that the surveillance video should have been released or not, we all now know that Brown had just robbed a store moments before being shot. Why is the White House attending a funeral for a criminal, but not the funeral for a general killed in Afghanistan? This smacks of a cynical political attempt by the Obama WH to avoid alienating the black community.



B) Based on the autopsy report that has so far contradicted eye-witness reports of Brown being shot in the back, AND has revealed that he had at least one drug in his system, there's a very real chance Brown did indeed assault (and injure) a police officer after robbing a store, and that the officer was justified in shooting him. If that's indeed what happened, the WH will be forever associated with celebrating the life of a violent thug who attacked a cop, perhaps with the intent to kill him.



C) Since there's a very real chance of a trial happening, The WH's actions give the impression of official government credence to a version of events that are hotly in dispute. Consider: if it was a known fact that Brown DID actually assault and rush a police officer after just committing a robbery, AND the officer was totally justified in using deadly force, would any WH official be attending his funeral? Of course not.



My respect for this administration continues to plummet.





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Sexual Assaults... The "One in Five" Statistic

I've commented before that I thought that the commonly-cited "one in five" figure for women being the victim of sexual assault while at school were inflated.

That the numbers that, for example, our university were seeing did not even come close to bearing this out.

I speculated that only by using somewhat-twisted feminist ideals that "any sex act about which you had regrets is a rape" could such numbers be justified.



However, just this last week, I listened to a Morning Edition segment that shed rather a different light on the subject.

The researcher had opportunity to extensively interview 7 young men who had been involved in "date rapes". These young men were not reticent about discussing the incidents because they did not consider them to be rapes.

These were, mind you, serial offenders. Between them, they had accounted for at least 150 rapes while at school. None of these had ever been reported; the young men had clean records.

They all described using essentially the same methods. Get 'em drunk and do 'em.



They would lavish attention on the targeted young woman, invite them to "special" fraternity parties, fawn over them at the party, get them drinking the "special punch" they had concocted (usually about 50% alcohol) and wait till they were past the point of consent and off to the bedroom.

These are all classic "date rapes"... No force, no threats, no violence.... Just drunk to the point of non-consent and constant physical pressure.



None of the young men expressed any regrets. In their minds, this was consensual sex. "She could have said no."



So.... If this is in any way accurate, it's not that in-school sexual assaults rapes are under-reported..... They may not be reported at all or only rarely.

In my own experience, over 30 years at the same institution, I've only been involved in one.... The young woman indeed charged the young man; he was duly arrested, the crime scene processed, evidence seized...

All to no avail. He freely admitted having sex with the woman..... He said, "we got drunk and made love." She said, "He got me drunk and had his way with me."

No witnesses.

The case was presented to the prosecutor who refused to issue a warrant.



I suppose such tales get around.....



Makes you wonder, as have many, what kind of culture our young men are being raised in?

Who knows, maybe it isn't a matter of values or education.... Maybe there is a percentage of the population that are prone to rape-behavior.... Much as they are to other less-harmful sexual proclivities.

I often wonder just what percentage of the male population are pedophiles? I suspect it's larger than the general populace thinks.





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The Criminal Underclass

Partly in line with the very long discussions over the situation in Ferguson, which has spawned a nationwide examination of how the criminal-justice system treats minorities in general...



I've maintained many times in posts here that the way CJ is operated in this country is creating a criminal underclass of mostly-minority folks who will have a first "brush" with the law early on, and then, to all intents, their lives are ruined.

They are unable to get decent jobs, unable to go to college, (even if their typically-substandard education would allow that), and generally relegated to a subsistence job if they decide to stay straight, or to go into crime full-time.



We deal with these people all the time... Repeat offenders who get arrested for petty thefts from campus and go to jail for a few months and then come back and do it again. We have guys we've arrested 5-6 times for stealing bicycles, computers, cell-phones... Over a period of years.



Today, on NPR's To The Best Of Our Knowledge, they interviewed the author of this book:



http://ift.tt/1mER7Ff



Which shed even more light on this rather abysmal situation. She lived in these communities for some years gathering information for this book. Saw young men get arrested and prosecuted for minor offenses... Who were essentially never able to get out from under the burdens of those incidents.

We have a whole segment of the young, black, male population who is almost perpetually "wanted", often for very minor offenses or failure to pay "fines and costs" for these offenses, and who are thus unable to get jobs, unable to use facilities like emergency rooms... Who effectively become yet another segment of the "underclass".



As the author said, it seems that since the 70s or thereabouts, society in general has become rather vindictive about "punishment" for criminals, and especially minority criminals.



She points out that at the very same time she saw young men being sent to prison for relatively minor offenses, she was going to school where she regularly saw privileged young white students doing the very same things... Drugs, DWI offenses, fights, sexual offenses...And who were getting a trip to the "judicial administrator" as a result.

Prosecutions rare, jail time unheard-of.



This is not a good situation, my friends, and I say that from my standpoint as a member of the criminal-justice establishment.

Despite the Right's complaints of "coddling criminals" and demanding retribution and "responsibility"..... We pay for these people one way or another.

If not for social programs and job opportunities and better education.. Then by more prisons, more incarcerated citizens, more ruined lives, and more crime.

People will get along. If they cannot get along honestly, they will get along as they can.





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