Phillip McCleod
Phillip McCleod's JournalOoops. I flamed.
And got hidden three posts in a row.
Facts have no place in capital-D Democratic politics. Never really did, but maybe I was crazy and held out hope that some percentage of DUers would accept criticism of what is fucked up. Nope.
I'm in trouble now on DU. Can't be good to have 3 posts hidden in a row.
Wish me luck.. hope to still be around in another week.
..
Please, tell me when dudebro motorcyclists ascended to sainthood? Apparently it's quite wrong to criticize DU, the Pope, and idiot motorcyclists all at once.
Liberal believers need to pick a side. The Bible, Koran, Torah, Gita, etc.
Or reality.
It's black and white. Fiction VS Reality. Choose wrong and we're all fucking screwed.
We're counting on you to think about this choice, for fucking once.
religion is a poison.
how's your motorcycle treating you? has your gas guzzling piece of shit ride been blessed by the fucking pope yet?
if you take the pope seriously, then i can't take you seriously.
that's where we stand. ban me and i will advertise it.
Face It:: The Internet is Yelling Across a Crowded Room
If you want to whisper a secret to someone for some legitimate reason.. of which there aplenty.. take measures to whisper.
Even email is not private because it is and always has been a distributed communications medium since the ARPAnet days. That means if I'm running a server node, then your email is bounced off of my hard drive on its way to its destination. That's the magic. If I'm a bad sysadmin who knows how, I can read it. I can tell my computer to 'read' it and tell me if it says 'bomb'. That's the magic, since the get-go.
That doesn't mean you can't digitally whisper, but as in real life, if you want to communicate something private, you don't yell it across the cafeteria. You draw the one person aside and put your mouth close to their ear and whisper.
This can be done, if you want to do it, in the digital age. You can still whisper if you care to learn how.
Just be aware that the rest of the time you are yelling across the bar on a Saturday night.
Let's talk about encryption and security some more.
Some of us care about this issue out of pure professional interest, others on principle.. which I totally grok. I tinker. I'm a tinkerer, and one of the things I tinker with is encryption. I loved Hardy Boys as a kid, so let's inform each other.
The big question, it seems to me, is mobile phone security. There are currently paid services that will encrypt your voice calls so the *content* is however secure.. probably not real secure.. but I'm gambling that more free services will appear with similar ideas.
VOIP is an option, but which VOIP? Well, we know that Google and Skype are both in the PRISM program, so Google Voice and .. uh.. Skype are out. That leaves, mostly, paid services once again filling the gap. If I were paranoid, I would marvel at the coincidence that the two big free VOIP providers .. where call logs wouldn't normally exist per se .. are also in PRISM.
so here's what you want:
Linphone - 'Open source video SIP phone for desktop & mobile.'
http://www.linphone.org/
yeaaahhhh, baby.
Ever visited a Masonic Temple?
They're pretty 'weird' to a non-Mason, right? All the Egyptian hieroglyphs in the choir, the checkerboard floor mats and banners that disappear after the ritual is over? Or the rituals of Fraternities and Sororities? You know the 'Greek System' is based on Yale's age-old secret society system model, right? You know.. like the Skull & Bones and Scroll & Key? I wonder if there's a Sorting Hat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_secret_societies_in_North_America#Yale_University
Imagine walking into that environment as a total outsider.
That's what Church, Temple, and Mosque do for me.
RE: NSA snooping. 'Told ya so'..
..and I'm not alone. The problem is twofold.
One: THEM. The Big (Brother) Problem, is the snooping. We opt into being snooped on by corporations we love to hate like Facebook and Google. I don't remember checking a box for this. Do you?
Two: US. The I Told You So Problem, is the general ignorance of the technology that we use every day.. for which there is *no excuse*. It's not that hard to put your support behind Open Source movement. Start with Linux, you computer illiterate dope. When people who know more tell you to use TOR, go and fucking learn how to install the goddamn TOR Browser. The Onion Network is nothing without more nodes. It gets faster with every new user. Use it and watch Facebook freak out.
Learn something. Learn how to protect yourself. It's your responsibility to learn how to fucking 'whisper' electronically.
I know how. I'm not alone. Here's the tip of the Iceburg. Eat the pill, Nero. Protect yourself.
https://www.torproject.org/
Atheists use science like believers use faith in times of stress, says study
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/08/atheists-use-science-like-believers-use-faith-in-times-of-stress-says-study/Scientists in the study questioned members of competitive rowing teams and recruited 100 of them, mostly in their 20s, who said that they lacked strong religious beliefs. The rowers were divided into two groups, one set of whom were about to race in a regatta, and a second group facing a much less stressful competition.
Group members were then asked whether they agree or disagree with statements like, We can only rationally believe in what is scientifically provable, and All the tasks human beings face are soluble by science, and The scientific method is the only reliable path to knowledge.
Athletes who were preparing to compete were, predictably, under more stress than athletes who were under less pressure. In addition, they were statistically more likely to express a strong belief in scientific principles, 15 percent more than their less stressed counterparts.
..
Scientific thinking and religious thinking derive from very different bases, said the studys authors. Science is based in analytical thinking, rational inquiry and an objective weighing of evidence. Religious thought is founded on intuition, inner experience, and a valuing of historical revelation. Both, however, help people make sense of the world around them and gives them a sense of belonging.
In stressful situations people are likely to turn to whatever worldviews and beliefs are most meaningful to them, study co-author and Yale University psychologist Anna-Kaisa Newheiser told Science.
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Gender: Do not displayHometown: British Columbia
Home country: Canada
Current location: New Mexico, USA
Member since: Sat Oct 20, 2012, 11:12 AM
Number of posts: 1,837