Data Ownership
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Can we send y'all a passle of illegal immigrants who're doing superhuman feats to get into this country? It would be impressive indeed if we could find creative ways to put those devious minds to work on something besides soaking up the free, socialist healthcare that we already provide in the US. (That I'm paying way too much for.)
Please do, anyone who can illegally get into the UK by hanging onto a freight train by their teeth for 3 days has my confidence, when compared to some of the useless native compulsive breeders/eaters/whingers who seem to be wasting so much of the air/space/tax in the UK of Britain.
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Stephanie J Brown (10/24/2008)
The sky is sure pretty from up in orbit. :hehe:It is purty up here!! It has nothing to do with reports rubberstamped by His Carbon Creditness, but here's my retirement dream picture:
Colonel Kittinger is my hero. I can't wait to make my own first spacejump. Woohoo!
:w00t:
With that big Canadian cold front coming down this week, Algore must be speaking somewhere. Even Florida's going to be down below 60°F...
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This has a nice little collection of my fears:
http://www.slate.com/id/2203120
This sums them (my fears) up nicely:
she is a "premillenial dispensationalist"—in other words, someone who believes that there is no point in protecting and preserving the natural world, since the end of days will soon be upon us.
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Slate? I'd hate to think people get their news there, but I guess so. Might as well expect unbiased technology coverage from slashdot... or handgun recommendations from Salon.
😉
I read the article, bias and all. I'd still kill the fruit fly research and take my $10 back, please. I have a stake in autism research because I have three kids with autism, and that is NOT the research that I want the money spent on.
Insert obligatory R.E.M. song and hum along: "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." (It's been yanked repeatedly from YouTube, or I'd link it up for you.)
:hehe:
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peterus (10/27/2008)
she is a "premillenial dispensationalist"—in other words, someone who believes that there is no point in protecting and preserving the natural world, since the end of days will soon be upon us.
Had to check out Wikipedia for this one for a better definition of what exactly is meant by a "premillenial dispensationalist". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism
Reading through it, I don't think I read anything in there that conflicts with my views as a Christian. I also didn't see anything in there about believing that there is no point in protecting/preserving the natural world. Didn't see anything in the whole article about the natural world. I guess it's kind of like saying that since the Bible talks about slavery that all Christians condone slavery.
From what I've read of the Bible, humans were created to care for the land entrusted to them. While we may not see caring for the land as the utmost high calling, we're not supposed to go around trashing it, either. Some people are better about caring for the environment than others, whether Christian or not. I would also argue that there needs to be some balance in the whole area of caring for the environment. Forest fires are natural, but we try to stop them. Then the undergrowth builds up so much that when there really is a fire, it rages out of control. Which is better? Stop hunting deer because it's cruel or let the deer population build up so much that they starve? (I saw this in the NorthEast.)
For a real, unbiased discussion of Sarah Palin and John McCain, why not check out something by Chris Matthews? I hear that he is completely non-partisan, just like the authors at Slate. 😉
I think it's pretty safe to say that generalizations don't always work. Just because Sarah Palin claims to be a born-again Christian doesn't mean that she would necessarily belong in the same category as those in the Westboro Baptist Church. (Can we stop promoting them as any sort of Christian representatives, please?) Kind of the same way that I wouldn't lump you in with other agnostics because you are an agnostic. 🙂
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"I'd still kill the fruit fly research and take my $10 back, please"
Since you don't want to fund this research, would you be willing to offer up one or two of your kids since you do have a stake in it?
How about this:
"The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders"
http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/biotech/story/1809660/
I never advocated Slate as a news source. This article just happens to link up with my personal feelings about the politicians(and people in general) that are ruining America, specifically the hard-core fundies. We have Bachmann here in Minnesota, but hopefully not for long. Palin/McCain are the real Anti-Americans in all this. They hate science and are the epitomy of intellectual sloth, as most christians seem to be these days. Pathetic examples of humans, imho.
FYI: Human life is neither precious, nor rare.
Yes I have kids. No, I don't like other peoples' kids or their parents, for the most part.
I do apologize to all the christians that don't try to impose their lifestyle on to others, don't judge others by the size of their "faith" and also do believe a balance of science and faith is attainable, and not mutually exclusive.
Oh yeah, DRM sux 😉
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PLEASE OH PLEASE AMERICA DON'T ELECT McCAIN/PALIN!!!!
I do not want to take the chance that a right-wing christian will be president of the United States(in the off-chance that something horrible would happen to McCain). I am very close with some right-wing christian creationist and it just boogles my mind some of the things they believe. Unbiased logical thought is something that they will NEVER wrap their minds around. I have some stories, believe me. Wow, you would really be suprised what constitutes as proof in the mind of a right-wing christian. There is NO-WAY that someone like that should be anywhere close to the position of president.
Please America, I beg of you. Don't elect McCain/Palin.
Live to Throw
Throw to Live
Will Summers -
Easy, easy. Go easy on the politics here.
Feel free to start a thread in Not about SQL forum if you wish to debate it.
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I know some people who are Christians and don't think logically. Therefore it logically follows that ALL Christians fit in that mold. I know of some Muslims who are terrorists. It must logically follow that anyone with any Muslim training must be a terrorist as well, right? Don't elect Barak Obama as he was raised as a Muslim when he was younger and therefore must be a terrorist. Ugh.
Can we please knock off the generalizations? It wouldn't bother me so much if you were throwing out something reasonable or even on topic, but if you want to throw logical thought out here as something that Christians don't do, you're identifying with them by that post.
All A are B. Therefore all B are A. == FALSE
All A are B. Therefore some B are A. == TRUE
Some A are B. Therefore, in any group of B there must be some A. == FALSE
"I know some people who think in a manner I find illogical. They claim to be Christians. Therefore, all Christians must think in a manner that I would find illogical." This is a logically false conclusion.
Related to the election - I encourage those in the USA who are legally able to vote to do so, but please be well informed when exercising your right to vote. (Reminds me - I have to really read up on all of the local ticket items on my ballot. 🙂 ) And no matter what anyone says, I seriously doubt this election will really affect the next millenium of the state of the USA. People kept saying the same thing about (Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Bush, Taft, Lincoln, insert just about any President here). The country has survived. All of the people who promised to leave are still here. I'm not crazy about everything the current administration has done, but supported various things they did. I supported some things Clinton did, even if I disagreed with him on a lot of other things. Above all, I'll respect the office of the President, even if I do not necessarily respect the person who holds it. And I say this knowing full well that "my" candidate may not be the one who wins this time around.
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Steve Jones - Editor (10/28/2008)
Easy, easy. Go easy on the politics here.Feel free to start a thread in Not about SQL forum if you wish to debate it.
My bad, I just got a little panicky reading all the links about Palin and started thinking what it would be like if the right-wingers got truly in power.
I'll try and keep it on subject. I apologize for my rant in a SQL Server forum.
Live to Throw
Throw to Live
Will Summers -
Peter Schott (10/28/2008)
I know some people who are Christians and don't think logically. Therefore it logically follows that ALL Christians fit in that mold. I know of some Muslims who are terrorists. It must logically follow that anyone with any Muslim training must be a terrorist as well, right? Don't elect Barak Obama as he was raised as a Muslim when he was younger and therefore must be a terrorist. Ugh.I know I went off subject, but I was making reference to right-wing christians, not all christians. How many extremists in any religion do you know that have a solid grip on reality(Waco, Westboro Baptist Church)? I wasn't making reference to all christians, just the ones who are way out there. When someone says extremist Muslims, what do you think of? Terrorists. From what I have read Muslims are against violence, unlike the extremist. I know I was making a generalization, but it was about the far right, not christians in general.
Live to Throw
Throw to Live
Will Summers -
Too late Steve, this thread got political a while ago!
Logic, however, and analysis, have a place in the forum. So to shift the thread slightly, I do wish EVERYONE involved in this election would take the time to do their research and analysis.
Case in point, the infamous Palin comment on "fruit fly research in Paris, France". I can't tell you how many online article I saw that pointed to the UNC study on Autism that involved fruit flies. However, that wasn't the earmark Palin was talking about. It took me an hour searching and reading on the Internet to figure out what she had referenced. Found this link that describes it: http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/local/doc47fc6ca1ad0ee555305173.txt
This particular earmark was for research on the olive fruit fly - a large cash crop in parts of California. The money was sent to the USDA facility in Paris, France (where they have access to lots of research on the olive fruit fly, since lots of olives are grown in various areas of Europe and the Mediteranian). It's pest control related research, not DNA/chromosome research for autism.
Should we have earmarks? It's an easy target, but it's also one way to make sure the tax dollars we give the government are more evenly distributed back to the taxpayers. I'd have to look into the history of it more, but I'd prefer to see them all put in their own bill and voted on. But $211,000 dollars doesn't seem like a huge issue to me out of the trillions the government is currently spending to run this country. And that's what this particular earmark was for.
So can anyone explain why the various news agencies and bloggers glommed on to the Autism research? Maybe because you had to go to page 2 of Google to find the actual research... Oh yea, and it sells commercials. 😉
So as scary as politics may seem some times, the best antidote (to my mind) is logical, rational application of the talents we already have. Research, analyze, spend some time tracking down the "bugs" in the arguments that politicians and pundits are making. Resist their attempts to bypass your thinking brain (they do play on emotions). And then make a well-thought out decision on how you want to respond - with your vote, your money, your letters, your discussions with friends or neighbors or the folks in forums 😀 , whatever.
BTW, isn't it fascinating how we arrived here from a "simple" question on copyright infringement? And we still don't know how either politcial candidate feels about it! (Although I haven't research that one...) :hehe:
Here there be dragons...,Steph Brown
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Peter Schott (10/28/2008)
... Related to the election - I encourage those in the USA who are legally able to vote to do so, but please be well informed when exercising your right to vote. (Reminds me - I have to really read up on all of the local ticket items on my ballot. 🙂 ) ...And if you live in a place that uses electronic voting machines, CHECK YOUR BALLOT! If you have any problems with it not correctly registering your vote, call a poll worker over before you hit the commit/done/whatever button, it's what they're there for. And if they don't fix it, don't leave the machine and call the local TV station! There's too many problems, either intentional or accidental, where people select one candidate and a different candidate gets the vote. There's an article today on either Wired or Slashdot, don't remember which, linking to a YouTube video showing the error in a West Virginia location AFTER the machine is re-calibrated.
I really wish they would ban the firk-ding-blast electronic voting machines. They're far more trouble than they're worth. Scantron-style ballots where you fill in the circle or draw a line are so much more reliable and can be easily recounted or audited when required.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font] -
For me, Landover Baptist Church is good enough for me -- www.landoverbaptist.org.
(tongue planted firmly in cheek -- it's masterfully-written spoof of religious extremism in the guise of a religious community (think of the best SNL Church Lady sketch and improve the writing by a few orders of magnitude), if it's still up: I don't know if our firewall is blocking it or if it's no longer up, they totally suckered me on an article before I learned it was a spoof.)
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
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