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Bashaw v. Johnson, 2012 WL 1623483 (D.Kan. May 9, 2012)
Some employees filed suit after they learned that their boss — who required them to wear skirts to work — allegedly installed the Cam-u-flage video surveillance app on his iPhone and iPad to surreptitiously capture upskirt shots of plaintiffs at work.
The boss filed a counterclaim under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), claiming that plaintiffs deleted data from his iDevices without authorization. Plaintiffs moved to dismiss this counterclaim. The court granted the motion.
The court held that the boss failed to allege the nature of his alleged damages within the meaning of the CFAA, and that he failed to sufficiently allege a qualified loss as defined by the statute.
As for damage, the court found that the mere allegation that data had been erased, without identifying which data, did not meet the plausibility requirement to survive a motion to dismiss. (Hmm. I wonder what data the plaintiff-employees would have wanted to delete?)
On the question of loss, the employer alleged that such calculation "would exceed" the CFAA threshold of $5,000. But he did not allege that he actually incurred losses in that amount. He did not mention any investigative or response costs, nor did he allege any lost revenues or other losses due to an interruption in service.
Photo credit: Magic Madzik


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HONDA Motor Co cut its full-year net profit forecast by a fifth after sales in China were hit by a popular backlash against Japanese goods, and warned it could be February before business in the world's biggest autos market returns to normal.
The cut, prompted by a slump in sales amid often violent protests in a dispute about ownership of islands in the East China Sea, makes it likely that bigger Japanese rival Nissan Motor, and possibly Toyota Motor, will follow suit when they report quarterly earnings early next week.
"It's likely Toyota and Nissan are going to cut forecasts in the same way. A cut was to be expected because the problems with China weren't factored into forecasts," said Fujio Ando, managing director at Chibagin Asset Management.
Demand for Honda, Toyota and Nissan cars slumped in China in September as tempers flared in the territorial dispute, with South Korea's Hyundai Motor and Germany's BMW picking up market share. Toyota has said its China sales dropped 49 percent in September.
Sales by Honda and its China joint ventures dropped 40.5 percent last month.
China is Honda's secondbiggest market after the United States, accounting for 17 percent of 2011 sales.
Honda said on Monday that its two biggest China plants would continue to run on one shift, rather than two, until at least the middle of next month, with output then gradually picking up ahead of Chinese New Year in February - a traditional buying season. It cut its full-year China sales forecast by 17 percent to 620,000 vehicles, but said there would be no change to its investment there. Honda plans to invest $880 million to expand capacity at its plants in Guangzhou and Wuhan over the next few years.
"China is the world's biggest auto market and there's no doubt it will continue to grow. We will continue our current (investment) plan," Executive Vice President Tetsuo Iwamura told a results briefing.
Honda, whose models include the Accord, Fit/Jazz, Civic and CR-V, cut its net profit forecast for the year to March to 375 billion yen ($4.7 billion) from 470 billion yen. Last year, Honda reported net profit of 211.5 billion yen. It also cut its forecasts for annual operating profit and revenue, citing uncertain markets in China, Europe and India.
Shares in Honda - which fell 15 percent to near 9- month lows amid the China protests - ended 4.7 percent lower at 2,399 yen, their biggest one-day fall in nearly 5 weeks.
Honda released its quarterly earnings three hours earlier than planned, after accidentally posting the results on its website. It took down the numbers, but was told by the Tokyo Stock Exchange to bring forward the full announcement, a Honda spokeswoman said.
Net profit for July- September rose 36.1 percent to 82.2 billion yen ($1.03 billion), some way below the average estimate of 107.2 billion yen from six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
A year ago, Japanese manufacturers were still reeling from the March earthquake and tsunami.
Honda's quarterly profits were also dented by start-up and advertising costs for the new Accord sedan, which went on sale in the United States in September, but the refresh helped Japan's thirdbiggest automaker increase its share of the US car and light truck market to 8.7 percent in September.
The fallout from the Japan-China dispute could run into the current and fourth quarters, analysts have warned. Takaki Nakanishi, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, said the impact could, at best, last 3 months, and up to 6 months in a pessimistic scenario.
CEO Takanobu Ito, 59, an engineer who took charge three years ago, has set a demanding goal to nearly double global car sales to 6 million in four years.
Worldwide production jumped 69 percent in April- September to above 2 million vehicles.
The carmaker on Monday trimmed its full-year global sales forecast to 4.12 million vehicles from an earlier estimate of 4.3 million. It said vehicle sales in July- September rose 47 percent to 996,000.
Toyota and Nissan report their quarterly earnings on November 5 and November 6, respectively.
Last week, Hyundai increased its quarterly net profit by 13 percent to $2 billion, but several European automakers felt the squeeze of the region's debt crisis, with Peugeot accepting state aid and even leader Volkswagen reporting lower profits.

subset: commoncrawl


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Should School Start Before Or After Labor Day [Poll]
Summer is unoffically over and students are back in school.
Summer lasts longer than it used to for many students. Since 2006, Michigan law requires public schools to wait until after Labor Day to begin school.
Should school start before or after Labor Day?
The idea behind the law, which passed in 2005 under Jennifer Granholm, was to extend the tourism season in Michigan. Supporters said extending tourism season would give a boost to Michigan's economy. Others argued that local school districts should be allowed to decide for themselves when to begin school.
The idea of boosting Michigan's tourism industry and economy is a nice one, but is forcing schools to start at a time when they might not wish to the best way to achieve that goal?
Schools that start earlier may end earlier and provide a boost to tourism in late spring/early summer. Extending the school year isn't bad for kids. Neither is starting after Labor Day.
The decision on when to start and end school should be based on what is good for our kids, not what is good for our tourism industry. It should be decided by local school districts.
When do you think school should start?


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Thanks for the suggestion, Nathan. It's certainly something worth looking into, so we'll let everyone know what is decided after a little discussion.
Soooooo ... was the consensus "No", or did this critically important matter simply slip through the cracks? Any news on this front?
Page created in 0.048 seconds with 18 queries.


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Hand-knitted finger wool puppets.
Approximate height 10 cms.
These wool finger puppets are hand-knitted by Agustina in Bolivia. They are placed on the fingers and they will help you tell stories for kids! If you want to order any other animal, do not hesitate to contact us by email !
Create fun and imagination with these animal finger puppets made from wool. Finger puppets are perfect for creative story telling, as original gifts and party favors! Even adults love them so have some fun matching your friend's personality!
Agustina is in charge of manufacturing finger puppets of wool.
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Dr M H Stephenson, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, UK
Prof C B Foster, Geoscience Australia, Canberra ACT, Australia
For this online study, the authors collected and photographed hundreds of specimens of the PermianTriassic 'fungal' spore Reduviasporonites Wilson 1962 from a wider range of locations than previously documented, including Australia, UK, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Austria and China. The aim of the study is not to detail formal taxonomy, but to use the internet as a forum to display the photomicrographs which show, better than ever before, the full range of variation of the genus.
A selection of 242 specimens are presented as a gallery of SEM and light photomicrographs for each of the two species. The gallery, which is searchable, contains brief descriptions of specimens, along with details of specimen locations, slide codes and species determinations. A further table gives details of sample location and type, and the rock unit from which the sample came.
Use the links in the menu for further information and to go to the galleries.


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Aftermarket, Performance, and Add-On Parts Regulations
This page last reviewed June 27, 2016
Aftermarket Parts Database of Executive Orders
Exempted parts are add-on or modified parts that have undergone an ARB engineering evaluation. If the part or modification is shown to not increase vehicle emissions, it is granted an exemption to emission control system anti-tampering laws. This exemption is called an Executive Order (EO) and allows the modification to be installed on specific emission controlled vehicles. Every Executive Order part or modification has an assigned number that can be verified by Smog Check stations, BAR Referee stations, or by the ARB.
Other related databases/lists:
- Aftermarket Catalytic Converter Database Page* - This page contains aftermarket catalytic converter EOs for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles only.
*Alert: Please view Executive Orders that were rescinded or withdrawn and the catalytic converters that cannot be advertised, offered for sale, sold or installed.
*Toyota: Please follow this link to see catalytic converters that are legal on 2001-2004 4.7 liter Toyota Sequoia and 2003-2004 4.7 liter Toyota Tundra.
- Motorcycle Aftermarket Parts Page - This page has a list at the top containing EOs for motorcycle aftermarket catalytic converters and other critical emission control parts for motorcycles.
- Products in Progress List
- This list expired on December 31, 2011, and is no longer available for viewing. Add-on and modified parts without an Executive Order after this
date will cause the vehicle to fail the visual portion of the Smog
Check inspection. Diesel vehicle owners may view additional information regarding these parts.
For more information about add-on and modified parts, or aftermarket catalytic converters, please contact ARB's Public Information Helpline at (800) 242-4450 or via email.
SEARCH FOR EXECUTIVE ORDER (except for catalytic converters):
- Air Cleaner Modification - modifications to the air cleaner and/or its housing.
- Air Filter/Intake Modification - open element air filters, modifications to the air flow intake tract, heat risers/preheat ducts.
- Engine Modification/Engine Change - kits that include multiple engine modifications such as new cylinder heads and camshafts, or boring and stroking; engine changes using an engine certified for another late model vehicle application, with additional engine modifications .
- Exhaust System/Exhaust Modification - exhaust manifold, exhaust headers, exhaust pipes, crossover pipes, etc.
- Fuel Line Modification - devices designed to attach to or be inserted in the fuel line.
Exemptions are no longer required for magnetic devices that are attached to the exterior of the fuel line; these devices have been determined to have no effect on emissions.
- Fuel System Modification - fuel filters, gas caps, pressure regulators.
- Intake/Exhaust System - a kit that includes both intake and exhaust components.


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Join Yankee Trails as we head to Yankee Stadium to see the New York Yankees take on the Blue Jays!Book Now
Click the DEPARTURE DATES TAB to begin your reservation!
August 22nd, 23rd & September 12th:
$225 per person (Adult/Child) Internet Price (Regular Price: $230pp)
Game Time: 1:05pm
SEATING: Audi Club Suite 2
All Major League Baseball GAME TIMES are subject to change. Yankee Trails is not responsible for these changes and HIGHLY RECOMMENDS purchasing our "Protect Your Buck" cancellation insurance.
The Audi Yankees Club located on the H&R Block Suite Level features all-inclusive, first-class dining options including Roasted Chicken, Marinated Hanger Steak, Jumbo Crab Cakes, Sausage & more, (menu subject to change without notice) and non-alcoholic beverage service (assorted soda & water), glass enclosed indoor seating, private restrooms and high-definition video monitors.
Departure Info:
Yankee Trails, Rensselaer - 7:15am
Dick's/Field & Stream, Latham Farms - 7:45am
Pet Smart, Crossgates Commons - 8:00am
Catskill, Exit 21 Commuter Lot - 8:45am
Return Information
All motorcoaches will depart from the stadium approximately 30 minutes following the game. Non-stop each way.
Tour Includes:
Round-Trip Motorcoach Transportation
Game Ticket
Non-alcoholic Beverages
Private Restrooms
100 Travel Points
Please Note: The buses park 2-3 blocks from the stadium in a specific lot for motorcoaches. The bus will NOT be able to drop off right at the gates so be sure to wear comfortable shoes!
There is ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKING or ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES allowed on board the motorcoach. Individual(s) requesting reservations will be responsible for their party/group. All carry-ons will be subject to inspection by the coach operator at his discretion. Failure to adhere to Yankee Trails World Travel's Policy will result in forfeiture of transportation (including each member of your party/group).
The following items are prohibited and may not be brought onto the premises:
Bags larger than 16 x 16 x 8 inches, including backpacks, purses and small backpack purses
Briefcases, large backpacks, large purses and bags, coolers and hard-sided bags and containers
Glass, cans and unsealed plastic bottles Laser pens Video cameras Laptop computers Firearms or knives
Beach balls, blow horns and all other distracting noisemakers Any other devices that may interfere with and/or distract any sports participant, other patron, audio or audio/visual telecast or recording of the game or any technology-related service provided in the Stadium
No bottles or cans are permitted in Yankee Stadium with the exception of transparent plastic water bottles. The water bottle must be full and factory-sealed. It cannot be a container from home, and it must only be filled with water. Exceptions may be made for empty plastic sports bottles, baby bottles, health-related materials and unopened soft-sided single-serve containers (such as small milk cartons, juice boxes, etc.). Exceptions may be made at the sole discretion of the Yankees.
No matter what the weather is like in the Capital District our tour will leave as scheduled. Many times it can be stormy in Albany and clear & sunny elsewhere. If the game is cancelled when we arrive, you may mail you ticket stub to the stadium and receive a ticket to another game, provided by Yankee Stadium. This will also happen if the game is called due to rain before the fifth inning. Transportation is NOT included with the rain-out tickets. If the game is stopped during or after the fifth inning, it is considered a complete game and no rain-out will be issued.
Below is a list of pick-up points available on this tour.
Below is a list of pick-up points available on this tour.
|Contact Details
| Catskill Commuter Lot - Exit 21 of Thruway
Near Visitors Center on Rte 23B
|Crossgates Commons
| Pet Smart Crossgates Commons
161 Washington Ave Extension, Albany, NY
|Latham Farms
| Dick's/Field & Stream, Latham Farms
579 Troy-Schenectady Rd, Latham, NY 12110
|Yankee Trails
| Yankee Trails
569 Third Ave. Ext, Rensselaer, NY
|Departure Date
|Pick-up Time
|Drop-off Time
|From Price
|Book Now
|Call Back
The website timed out while searching for the departure dates. Please try again.
|Room Types
|Price Per-Person
|Room Supplements
|General Items


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The Morenci Education Foundation gave a record $9,124 in mini-grants to teachers and staff members at Morenci's three school buildings.
The 26 mini-grants were announced to staff members Friday.
The foundation's annual Father's Day Golf Tournament is the major source of funding for the mini-grant program, although this year additional funding came through two other sources.
The family of the late Phyllis Ries designated memorials to the Morenci Education Foundation, plus a donation was received from Mark and Beth Pennington of Pennington Gas Service of Morenci.
The foundation awarded grants for the following materials and projects:


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BWIs, big wakes targeted for legislation
Two legislative initiatives the Missouri Water Patrol will pursue in the upcoming session could lower the number of drunken drivers on the lake and put a dent in the damage created by big boats and big wakes. Lowering the BAC on water would make it identical to the rules that apply to operating a motor vehicle. The disparity between the legal limit creates a public safety issue, according to Water Patrol officials. The legal limit on waterways is .10 BAC compared to .08 BAC on the highway. Major Joe Hughes said the Water Patrol has been looking at lowering the BAC for several years. Last year a move to gain approval of a bill to lower the legal limit on the water failed to make it through the Missouri House and Senate. If all goes as planned, Hughes said, the Water Patrol is hoping to get the bill passed this year and into the law books. Although the Lake of the Ozarks leads the state in BWI arrests, it's a statewide problem that needs to be addressed, he said. The Water Patrol estimates that the average blood alcohol level among those arrested on Lake of the Ozarks runs more than .14, four-tenths of a percent higher than the legal limit on water. With the difference between the legal limits, the average drunken boater could come off the water, get behind the wheel of a car and be nearly double the legal limit. Statistically, alcohol plays a prominent role in water-related accidents and fatalities. The Water Patrol estimates more than 50 percent of fatalities and 30 percent of injuries related to boating activities are caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol. The legal limit debate started in 2001 when the state legislature passed a bill lowering the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle from .10 to .08 percent. At the time, legislators did not include language to address the legal limit on the water. The Water Patrol will also push for a change in the existing law that will force operators of boats 30 feet or longer to slow down to idle speed within 300 feet of a dock, anchored vessel or pier. The 100-foot rule will be left in place and will apply to boats shorter than 30 feet. For example, Hughes said a boater heading into a cove 600 feet or less from dock to dock would be required to run at idle speed. If the cove is 700 feet wide from dock to dock, there would be a 100-foot corridor down the middle to run at full throttle. The proposed 300-foot rule would allow the energy of the wake to dissipate before it hits the dock. It would apply in coves and on the main channel. The proposed 300-foot rule would help ease the amount of property damage that occurs when the huge wakes hit docks, moored vessels or piers, Hughes said. Large wakes created by big boats is blamed for causing tens of thousands of dollars of property damage annually. Contact this reporter at email@example.com.


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Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and feed your whales. LET'S GO!
GLEE – 8:00PM (FOX) The Gwyneth Paltrow media fiesta continues with no end in sight. Tonight, the actress/singer/lotionmaker/author/microphone stand returns to FOX's musical comedy to perform Adele's "Turning Tables." I just read a profile of Paltrow yesterday that featured her handing out cucumber water to guests and being toasted by Jessica Seinfeld. And that's the most Gwyneth Paltrow thing you'll ever need to know. Also getting the "Glee" treatment tonight is Eric Carmen's "All By Myself," which will most assuredly be used as some kind of anthem for bullying victims. ANTICIPATION: GLEEFUL!
BODY OF PROOF – 10:00PM (ABC) For the second week in a row, we have a Christina Hendricks alert! NOT A DRILL. The "Mad Men" star waits out the show's extended contract squabble by doing a guest turn tonight on Dana Delany's show, which just happens to feature her husband (booooo) in the cast. Hendricks plays the twin sister of a dead girl. I guess that pretty much puts an end to any identity switching hijinks. ANTICIPATION: HENDRICKS!
BIGGEST LOSER: COUPLES – 8:00PM (NBC) The contestants spend this evening doing all kinds of crazy outdoor activities, like river surfing (that's a thing?) and bungee jumping. And really, is there a more suspenseful televised event than overweight people bungee jumping? I say no. ANTICIPATION: WE NEED A THICKER CORD!
BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA – 8:00PM (PBS) Scholar Henry Louis Gates travels to Haiti and the Dominican Republic to take a look at the history of African-Latin Americans (I just coined that term now) and how they've become such an enormous part of Latin culture. ANTICIPATION: ANTHROPOLOGICAL!
THE GIRL IN THE GLASS CASKET – 8:00PM (NatGeo – an NBC/Universal network) An Italian girl who died in 1920 was preserved in a glass casket, with much of her hair and skin still intact. Tonight, NatGeo takes a look at how workers are frantically attempting to preserve the mummy. I assume we'll also meet the seven dwarfs who built the coffin, along with the handsome prince who will be waking the girl up with true love's first kiss. ANTICIPATION: HEIGH HO!
Tuesday Watch List: Yet More Paltrow
Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and feed your whales. LET'S GO!


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North Carolina, like the nation, saw a drop in the unemployment rate from February to March, as well as from a year ago.
North Carolina, like the nation, saw a drop in the unemployment rate from February to March, as well as from a year ago.
The state�s rate decreased to 9.2 percent from the February revised rate of 9.4 percent, while the national figure fell to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent.
A year earlier, the unemployment rate was .2 percent higher in the state and .6 percent higher in the nation.
Statewide, the number of people employed decreased by 10,954 to more than 4.3 million, but increased by 42,669 from a year ago. However, the unemployed numbers decreased by 11,619, or 2.6 percent, from February and by 7,127 over the year.
The decrease of both employed and unemployed over the month could be caused by a combination of factors, said Ellen Bell of the Lenoir County office of the N.C. Division of Workforce Solutions.
�When people run out of unemployment insurance benefits,� she said, �a lot of people just drop out of the market. � A spurt of jobs � that could cause a decrease.�
Bell said there has been a spurt of temporary jobs, such as inside remodeling jobs. But there haven�t been any particularly significant trends, such as major layoffs or large numbers of employers seeking applicants, she said.
There has been a decrease in the number of people filing claims in person, Bell said. For the past couple of months, the state has been working toward requiring claims to be filed online or by telephone.
�We�re still assisting with customers having difficulties getting through on the telephone or online,� Bell said.
The most recent county figures are for February. Lenoir County had 2,956 unemployed, or 10.2 percent of the population, and 26,901 in the labor force. In January, the rate was 10.8.
Greene County saw 960 unemployed, or 9.7 percent, with 9,865 employed, and Jones County�s unemployed numbered 454, or 10.4 percent, and 4,385 employed. In January, the rates were 9.8 in Greene and 10.7 in Jones.
In North Carolina, Graham County ranked highest in unemployment at 20.2 percent, while Orange County ranked the lowest at 5.9 percent. Local rankings include Jones at 50, Lenoir at 46 and Greene at 37.
Nationally, the number of unemployed was 11.74 million and the civilian labor force was nearly 155.03 million. The civilian labor force in the state decreased over the month by 22,573, or .5 percent, to 4.74 million.
Non-farm industry employment, seasonally adjusted, fell by 300 to about 4.05 million from February. The industry with the greatest increase of employment from a month earlier was professional and business services at 4,200, while manufacturing had the largest decrease at 3,700.
The industry with the most job gains since March 2012 was leisure and hospitality at 20,200 of the private sector gain of 72,100. Total non-farm jobs increased by 75,300.
Both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted data are subject to revisions. It should be noted that industry employment estimates are subject to large seasonal patterns. While seasonal adjustment factors are applied to the data, these factors may not be fully capturing the seasonal trend. Therefore, when interpreting the industry employment changes, it is advisable to focus on over-the-year changes in both the smoothed seasonally adjusted series and not seasonally adjusted series.
The next unemployment update is scheduled for Wednesday, May 1 when the county unemployment rates for March 2013 will be released.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
Breakout box:
March 2012 Sept. 2012 Feb. 2013 March 2013
Statewide: 9.4 9.5 9.4 9.2
National: 8.2 7.8 7.7 7.6
Source: N.C. Department of Commerce


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The Heroes Project
EVENT: Cycle for Heroes - LA
Jennifer Faust
Rob Cohen
• You have registered yourself online at www.cycleforheroes.org and raised or donated at least $500 for a "regular bike" or at least $2000 for a VIP bike. As a reminder, your bike placement is dependent upon your mad fundraising skills.
• If you are sharing your bike with others (and therefore sharing fundraising minimums and bike riding time), everyone on your bike has been registered at www.cycleforheroes.org so that they are pre-registered for the event and our bounce staff doesn't have to bounce them out.
• Spouses/friends/+ 1's are encouraged to attend – but there will be a $50 fee at the door for everyone who isn't registered to ride. Make sure your people know this ahead of time. We are serving food and drink and delivering a great experience, and we encourage you to brag about how you are sweating and fundraising and showing up to support our injured veterans - you amazing Patriot you.
• Go west. If your shoes are wet, you've gone too far. The ramp at the intersection of Ocean and Colorado is your most direct route by bike or foot. If you know where you're coming from, CLICK HERE to map your route or simply enter 200 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, CA into your GPS.
• At the Pier, there are two lower lots accessible via Appian Way. CLICK HERE for a map. Parking is $3 per hour with a max of $12/day.
• Want to make this even easier? We recommend reserving a discounted parking spot in advance CLICK HERE.
• Check-in starts at 4:30 PM and will continue through 7:30 PM – to make Check-in easy, make sure you have raised the appropriate amount of money and have pre-registered yourself and everyone who is sharing your bike.
• You will sweat, so make sure you bring comfortable clothes to ride in AND dry clothes to throw on after your sweat sesh.
• We are BIG into drumsticks and will have some for participants. We encourage you to bring your own, decorate them, and make it part of your team costume if you are riding with others…. (everyone loves costumes – props are truly bonus fun for all).
• We will provide snacks, water, and towels, but if you are a BIG sweater, a constant snacker, or you easily dehydrate, we ask you to bring what you need to make this experience as amazing as you are.
• Some bikes are outfitted with SPD and LOOK clips, but not all. Please make sure to bring athletic shoes just in case you can't use cycling shoes. All bikes will accommodate athletic shoes.
• Last and most important, bring your fun self. We are here to show united, sweaty, philanthropic, enthusiastic, and continuous support to our injured veterans and all who have served our country. Thank you for your time, your energy, and your positively refreshing generous spirit. WE SALUTE YOU!
1.) Click on the "Setup your climb for heroes fundraising page"
2.) Follow the steps to get registered for the event and get your CrowdRise page set up.
3.) Once your page and log in is created, use the "Edit fundraiser" tab to add a photo and some story text about why this cause is important to you.
4.) Share your unique URL with family, friends, co-workers and anyone else with an email address to have them donate to your page and raise as much money as possible.
5.) Pat yourself on the back. You are contributing to an incredible program that changes thousands of lives every year.
4 years ago
In memory of my dear hero friend Gregory Joujon-roche.
And in tribute in honor of my son serving in the Navy, Hanz-Kristian Larson. For the many men and women whom have and are serving our country. Thank you!ð
4 years ago
We're setting up your Fundraiser page right now. It will take anywhere from 3 seconds to 27 seconds.


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via press release:
CBS and Worldwide Pants announced today a contract extension for David Letterman to host the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN through 2015.
"Les and I had a lengthy discussion, and we both agreed that I needed a little more time to fully run the show into the ground," said Letterman.
"There is only one Dave, and we are extremely proud that he continues to call CBS 'home,'" said Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation.
David Letterman is the longest-running late night talk show host in television history at 31 years and counting. He has been credited with redefining the talk show genre since "Late Night with David Letterman" premiered on NBC on Feb. 1, 1982. The groundbreaking show earned a Peabody Award, five Emmy Awards and 35 Emmy nominations during its 11½ years on the air.
This year, the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN reached a milestone 20 years on the CBS Television Network. Since its debut on CBS on August 30, 1993, the LATE SHOW has been honored with nine Emmy Awards, including six for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program, and a staggering 73 Emmy nominations.
THE LATE SHOW increased its audience 5% over last year during the opening week of the 2013-2014 broadcast season, with a weekly average of 3.14 million viewers.
The LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, broadcast weeknights (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, is a production of Worldwide Pants Incorporated. Barbara Gaines, Matt Roberts, Jude Brennan, Maria Pope, Eric Stangel, Justin Stangel and Rob Burnett are the executive producers.


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Rocktober Makeover: Turn it up, bring the noise
Out with the old furniture, in with the new! Well, more appropriately, 'relocate to another floor the old furniture, in with the new' but that doesn't really roll off the tongue. It also makes no sense. Anyway, the point is, today is the beginning of the new furniture installation in the Learning Commons! It's going to be fantastic. It's going to be amazing. It's also going to be noisy. Luckily, your intrepid Learning Commons team has come up with has several solutions to help you combat the noise over the next 3 days:
- Earplugs are available at the Learning Commons desk.
- Desktop computers are available in the IT labs at the front of the first floor, in the Mac Lab at the back of the first floor, and in the Library Instruction classroom on the second floor. There are also laptops available for checkout at the Learning Commons desk. There are additional computers in the alcoves on the first floor, but these may be too close to the furniture installation to be comfortable. Scanning is available in the Mac Lab, the Library Instruction classroom, and near the microform machines on the first floor.
- Collaborative study areas are temporarily available on the second floor. Collaborative study areas are also available at the back of the first floor.
- Quiet study areas are available on the third floor.
And as always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or cupcakes, please come and pay us a visit at the Learning Commons Desk.
Rock on!


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Insigne Design
Insigne Design was founded as DooleyType in 2004. Since then, Insigne Design has released a wide variety of quality typefaces, including sans serifs, scripts, serifs and experimental forms. Insigne Design is the foundry of Jeremy Dooley. A world traveler, Jeremy has traveled extensively and lived in both Europe and the Middle East. In 2005, Jeremy graduated with a master's degree in graphic design from Savannah College of Art and Design. Jeremy currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.


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There is currently 'a local difficulty' in selection matters for the English ladies team.
Trials were held and the team that finished second have been declared winners because the winning team played with a substitute for part of the competition ( due I believe to one member of that team having difficulty getting to the venue because of the extreme weather conditions in the UK last weekend).
I do not intend to comment on whether this was correct or not as I am sure I do not know all the relevant facts.
I do however have considerable experience of chairing selection committees not only for bridge teams but also rugby and quite understandably this means you are regularly criticised for the teams selected. You want your supporters to feel passionate about their team.
Sometimes the criticism you receive is ridiculous. An example - I was once berated on a touchline for selecting 'Bloggins' . When I asked who they would have selected I was told Smith or Jones. Smith had a broken leg and Jones was at his sisters wedding.
I believe the current position in England is the selection committee is responsible for the selection of all teams - Open , Ladies and Junior.
I think it would be preferable to have three separate committees which would almost certainly mean that each committee would have a better and more detailed knowledge of the ability and suitability of potential players. This would imho also lead to fewer contentious decisions.
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Karina Smirnoff may have a boyfriend, but she's surprised her lady-loving "Dancing with the Stars" partner, Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino, hasn't trotted out his trademark pick-up lines.
"He hasn't hit on me! And I'm taking it as an insult," Karina joked with Access Hollywood Live's Kit Hoover on Thursday. "Like, what am I? A grenade?"
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In "Jersey Shore" speak, a grenade is a term for a woman who falls low on the attractive meter and while Karina definitely isn't a grenade, she revealed she and The Sitch keep it cool in the practice room because the two have a familial relationship.
"We're like brother and sister," she said, before revealing they aren't exactly like family. "We laugh, we definitely have some flirtatious kind of mystery."
VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Situation's Abs In Action
Karina, who lives close to Michael's Jersey haunt in real life, said the MTV reality star and her own boyfriend – pro baseball player Brad Penny — have already bonded.
"They love each other and they exchanged phone numbers," she said.
While things are going well between Brad and Michael, Karina revealed she approached Season 11 of "DWTS" with some trepidation as her former fiancée – Maksim Chmerkovskiy – is still a cast member (dancing with Brandy).
VIEW THE PHOTOS: They Dated Who?!? Surprising Former Couples!
"I was a little concerned about that coming into this season and that was one of the main reasons why I wanted last season off," she told Kit. "It's cool… It's my job; I love what I do; I love dancing; I love choreographing and I get paid for it so it's pretty much you know perfect scenario, perfect situation. I wish him all the best."
Copyright 2010 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
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PLAY IT NOW: Access Extended: Did Karina Smirnoff Storm Out On 'The Situation'?
PLAY IT NOW: Access Extended: Why Is 'The Situation' Blushing?
More from Access: [ Karina Smirnoff Dancing With the Stars Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino ]


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Liv Ullmann plays Dr. Jenny Isakson, a psychiatrist who is taking a vacation while her husband Dr. Erik Isakson (Sven Lindberg) is elsewhere. Haunted by visions of an old woman, Jenny suffers from profound, inexplicable depression. Desperately in search of a escape from her doldrums, she has an affair with married doctor Tomas Jacobi (Erland Josephson).
This only serves to spark an attack of hysteria for Jenny. Again visited by hallucinations of the old woman, she attempts suicide. While hovering between life and death, she imagines she sees all the people who've been influential in her life, and rails against them for causing her neuroses.
Only while recovering does she learn who the spectral old woman is and why she is undergoing so harrowing an emotional experience. Like his later Scenes From a Marriage, Bergman's Face to Face (Ansikte mot ansikte) originated as a multipart TV series, which was then pared down into a two-hour-plus feature film.
|Ingmar Bergman, Michael Rymer, Michael Rymer


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Eun Kyoung Lee-Free Hug Sofa Sofa
At Design Interviews
Interview with eun kyoung lee : Frank Scott: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?. eun kyoung lee : My sister gave birth to a child. Is my first nephew. Lovely us nephew sister was breastfeeding. The first time I saw trying to join the breastfeeding breastfeeding cushion and sofa cushion Was attempted. (The warmth and stable image in my mind pull a smile) was also thinking about the combination of the sofa and looking at the doll doll body pillow on my bed. .Frank Scott: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?. eun kyoung lee : Happiness and comfort to the lonely, lonely people .Frank Scott: What are your future plans for this award winning design?. eun kyoung lee : Because the sofa gives the feeling of being alive, it will hold you warm and soft like your mother, friend, and a lover without feeling lonely. .Frank Scott: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?. eun kyoung lee : Because they are flexible and free, users can wind the arms around themselves after they sit on the sofa. Because of that, the extension arms have the effect of providing the stability to users to have a comfortable and relaxing time. .Frank Scott: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?. eun kyoung lee : They are both concentric and I have been dreaming of the concentric inherent in its purity. In hardness and urban chaos of the world, people are going to live a pure emptiness forgotten childhood relax. .Frank Scott: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?. eun kyoung lee : Use a little more lightly implemented easily in both commercial and want to make it easy to be used. .Frank Scott: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?. eun kyoung lee : It will present the dream of innocent childhood by giving the feeling of the soft heart of mother or the arms of the doll wrapping around you in your childhood. .Frank Scott: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?. eun kyoung lee : Because they are flexible and free, users can wind the arms around themselves after they sit on the sofa. .Frank Scott: What is the most unique aspect of your design?. eun kyoung lee : The cushion was put on the sofa before but this product combined the sofa and the cushion which moves freely. Accordingly, the usability is unlimited for user preference.It can provide a play material to children, a plastic sheet or a laptop pad to teenagers, the convenience of breast-feeding to the mother, the warm stomach to women, and the comfortable back to the elderly. .Frank Scott: What is the role of technology in this particular design?. eun kyoung lee : The sofa is in a round shape by cutting the sponge and a pair of extension arms has the same material as the sofa with the fabric for the exterior material and the bending sponge for the interior material. .Frank Scott: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?. eun kyoung lee : Observed many dolls, in order to express the warmth and concentric .Frank Scott: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?. eun kyoung lee : Every hair also suffered way too messy hair in disarray when the material part, but such material was very appropriate to show the warmth of a teddy bear. Use of different materials for the front part and the back in order to overcome such a problem, No expression (specific facial features and specific image - eyes, nose, mouth, fingers) efforts to put an image of the shape of a person or animal (simple, but to demonstrate that in a large number of images) .Frank Scott: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?. eun kyoung lee : Loved by more people .Frank Scott: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?. eun kyoung lee : Warmth and modern harmony .Frank Scott: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?. eun kyoung lee : I want to sincerely warm delivery. .
Eun Kyoung Lee-Free Hug Sofa Sofa Images:
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NVIDIA's GF100: Architected for Gamingby Ryan Smith on January 17, 2010 2:00 AM EST
- Posted in
- GPUs
At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, NVIDIA had several things going on. In a public press conference they announced 3D Vision Surround and Tegra 2, while on the showfloor they had products o'plenty, including a GF100 setup showcasing 3D Vision Surround.
But if you're here, then what you're most interested in is what wasn't talked about in public, and that was GF100. With the Fermi-based GF100 GPU finally in full production, NVIDIA was ready to talk to the press about the rest of GF100, and at the tail-end of CES we got our first look at GF100's gaming abilities, along with a hands-on look at some unknown GF100 products in action. The message NVIDIA was trying to send: GF100 is going to be here soon, and it's going to be fast.
Fermi/GF100 as announced in September of 2009
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves though, let's talk about what we know and what we don't know.
During CES, NVIDIA held deep dive sessions for the hardware press. At these deep dives, NVIDIA focused on 3 things: Discussing GF100's architecture as is relevant for a gaming/consumer GPU, discussing their developer relations program (including the infamous Batman: Arkham Asylum anti-aliasing situation), and finally demonstrating GF100 in action on some games and some productivity applications.
Many of you have likely already seen the demos, as videos of what we saw have already been on YouTube for a few days now. What you haven't seen and what we'll be focusing on today, is what we've learned about GF100 as a gaming GPU. We now know everything about what makes GF100 tick, and we're going to share it all with you.
With that said, while NVIDIA is showing off GF100, they aren't showing off the final products. As such we can talk about the GPU, but we don't know anything about the final cards. All of that will be announced at a later time – and no, we don't know that either. In short, here's what we still don't know and will not be able to cover today:
- Die size
- What cards will be made from the GF100
- Clock speeds
- Power usage (we only know that it's more than GT200)
- Pricing
- Performance
At this point the final products and pricing are going to heavily depend on what the final GF100 chips are like. The clockspeeds NVIDIA can get away with will determine power usage and performance, and by extension of that, pricing. Make no mistake though, NVIDIA is clearly aiming to be faster than AMD's Radeon HD 5870, so form your expectations accordingly.
For performance in particular, we have seen one benchmark: Far Cry 2, running the Ranch Small demo, with NVIDIA running it on both their unnamed GF100 card and a GTX285. The GF100 card was faster (84fps vs. 50fps), but as Ranch Small is a semi-randomized benchmark (certain objects are in some runs and not others) and we've seen Far Cry 2 to be CPU-limited in other situations, we don't put much faith in this specific benchmark. When it comes to performance, we're content to wait until we can test GF100 cards ourselves.
With that out of the way, let's get started on GF100.
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FlyTexas - Monday, January 18, 2010 - linkI have a feeling that nVidia is taking the long road here...
The past 6 months have been painful for nVidia, however I think they are looking way ahead. At its core, the 5000 series from AMD is really just a supersized 4000 series. Not a bad thing, but nothing new either (DX11 is nice, but that'll be awhile, and multiple monitors are still rare).
Games have all looked the same for years now. CPU and GPU power have gone WAY up in the past 5 years, but too much is still developed for DX9 (X360/PS3 partly to blame, as is Vista's poor adoption), and I suspect that even the 5000 series is really still designed around DX9 and games meant for it with a few "enhancements".
This new chip seems designed for DX11 and much higher detailed graphics. Polygon counts can go up with this, the number of new details can really shine, but only once games are designed from scratch for it. From that point, the 6 month wait isn't a big deal, it'll be another few years before games are really designed from scratch for DX11 ONLY. Otherwise you have DX9 games with a few "enhancements" that don't add to gameplay.
It seems like we are really skipping DX10 here, partly due to Vista's poor adoption, partly due to XP not being able to use DX10. With Windows 7 being a success and DX11 backported to Vista, I think in the next 2-3 years you'll finally see most games come out that really require Vista/7 because they will require DX10/11.
Of course, my 260GTX still runs everything I throw at it, so until games get more complex or something else changes, I see no reason to upgrade. I thought about a 5870 as an upgrade, but why? Everything already runs fast enough, what does it get me other than some headroom? If I was still on a 8800GT, it would make sense, but I'd rather wait for nVidia to launch so the prices come down. Reply
PorscheRacer - Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - linkWell then there's the fact ATI designed their 2000 series (and 3000 and 4000 series) to comply with the full DirectX 10 specification. NVIDIA didn't have the chips required for this spec, and talked Microsoft into castrating DX10 by only adding in a few things. Tessellation was notably left out. ATI wsa hung out to dry on performanec and features wasted on die. They finalyl got DX10.1 later on but the damage was done.
Sure people complained about Vista, mostly gamers as games ran slower, but I wonder how those games would have been if DX10 was run at the full spec (which was marginally lower the DX11 today)? Reply
Scali - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - linkI think you need to read this, and reconsider your statement:
http://scalibq.spaces.live.com/blog/cns">http://scalibq.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!663AD9A4F9CB0661!194.entry Reply
jimhsu - Monday, January 18, 2010 - linkI made this post in another forum, but I think it's relevant here:
Yes, I'm beginning to see this [games becoming less GPU limited and more CPU limited] with more mainstream games (to repeat, Crysis is NOT a mainstream game). FLOP wise, a high end video card (i.e. 5970 at 5 TFLOP) is something like 100 TIMES the performance of a high end CPU (i7 at 50 GFLOPS).
In comparison, during the 2004 days, we had GPUs like the 6800 Ultra (54 GFLOP) and P4's (6 GFLOP) (historical data here: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=51677)">http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=51677). That's 9X the performance. We've gone from 9X to 100X the performance in a matter of 5 years. No wonder few modern games are actually pushing modern GPUs (requiring people who want to "get the most" out of their high powered GPUs to go for multiple screens, insane AA/AF, insane detail settings, complex shaders, etc)
I know this is a horrible comparison, but still - it gives you an idea of the imbalance in performance. This kind of reminds me of the whole hard drive capacity vs. transfer rate argument. Today's 2 TB monsters are actually not much faster than the few GB drives at the turn of the millennium (and even less so latency wise).
Personally, I think the days of GPU bound (for mainstream discrete GPU computing) closed when Nvidia's 8 series launched (the 8800GTX is perhaps the longest-lived video card ever made). And in general, when the industry adopted programmable compute units (aka DirectX 10). Reply
AznBoi36 - Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - linkActually the Radeon 9700/9800 Pro had a pretty long life too. The 9700 Pro I bought in 2002/2003 had lasted me all the way to early 2007, which was when I then bought a 8800GTS 640mb. 4 years is pretty good. It could have lasted longer, but then I was itching for a new platform and needed to get a PCI-Express card (the Radeon was AGP). Reply
RJohnson - Monday, January 18, 2010 - linkSorry you lost all credibility when you tried to spin this bullsh*#t "Today's 2 TB monsters are actually not much faster than the few GB drives at the turn of the millennium"
Go try and run your new rig off one of those old drives, come back and post your results in 2 hours when your system finally boots. Reply
jimhsu - Monday, January 18, 2010 - linkA fun chart. Note the performance disparity.
jimhsu - Monday, January 18, 2010 - linkDisclosure: I'm still on a 8800 GTS 512, and I am in no pressure to upgrade right now. While a 58xx would be nice to have, on a single monitor I really have no need to upgrade. I may look into going i7 though. Reply
dentatus - Monday, January 18, 2010 - linkIf something works well for you then there is no real reason (or need) to upgrade.
I still run an 8800 ultra, it still runs many games well on a 22 inch monitor. The GT200 was really only a 50% boost over the 8 series on average. For comparison, I bought a second hand ultra for $60, transplanted both of them into an i7 based system and this really produced a significant boost over a GTX285 in the games I liked; about 25% more performance- roughly equivalent to HD5850, albeit not always as smooth.
It would be good to upgrade to a single GPU that is more than double the performance of this kind of setup. But a HD5800 series card is not in that league, and it remains to be seen if the GF100 is. Reply
dentatus - Monday, January 18, 2010 - linkI agree this chip does seem designed around new or upcoming features. Many architectural shortcomings from the GT200 chip seem to be addressed and worked around getting usable performance (like tesselation) for new API features.
Anyway to be pragmatic about things, nvidias history leaves much to be desired; performance promised and performance delivered is very variable. HardOCP mentioned the 5800 Ultra launch as a con, there is also th G80 launch on the flip side.
A GPU's theoretical performance and the expectations hanging around it are nothing to make choices by, wait for the real proof. Anyone recall the launch of the 'monstrous' 2900XT? A toothless beast that one. Reply


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Step back in time aboard our Civil War Train. Don't be surprised if we run into a little skirmish along the way, as the Yanks and the Rebs fight for control of the rails and the gold.
Two weekends a year, we offer an experience that combines history and a little theatrical fun. Walk through the reenactors camp and talk with them about life during the war. See (and hear) a "real" cannon fired. Then be prepared for anything as you climb aboard the train. You might find yourself seated next to a "Personage from the Past" or be "accosted" in the aisle by a captured Rebel soldier. Bring your cameras for this one!
Purchase your tickets now.
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By Jason Miks
GPS digital producer Jason Miks sits down with renowned evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of the Selfish Gene and An Appetite for Wonder, to discuss readers' questions on religion, its role in society and whether children can be described as "Christian."
A number of readers noting your skepticism over religion's role in society ask whether an absence of religion would leave us without a moral compass?
The very idea that we get a moral compass from religion is horrible. Not only should we not get our moral compass from religion, as a matter of fact we don't. We shouldn't, because if you actually look at the bible or the Koran, and get your moral compass from there, it's horrible – stoning people to death, stoning people for breaking the Sabbath.
Now of course we don't do that anymore, but the reason we don't do it is that we pick out those verses of the bible that we like, and reject those verses we don't like. What criteria do we use to pick out the good ones and reject the bad ones? Non-biblical criteria, non-religious criteria. The same criteria as guide any modern person in their moral compass that has nothing to do with religion.
So the moral compass of any person is very much a part of the century or even the decade in which they happen to live, regardless of their religion. So we live in the early 21st century, and our moral compass in the early 21st century is quite different from 100 years ago, or 200 years ago. We are now much less racist than they were, much less sexist than they were. We are much kinder than non-human animals than they were – all sorts of respects in which we are labeled with a moral compass. So something has changed, and it certainly has nothing to do with religion.
You've been travelling to the States from the U.K. for a number of years. Have you noticed much of a change in the place of religion in the two countries over that time?
Notoriously, the United States is the most religious of the Western advanced nations. It's a bit mysterious why that is. In Britain, Christianity is dying. Islam, unfortunately, isn't. In Western Europe generally, Christianity is dying. Even in America, the figures show that religious adherence is being steadily reduced, and the people who now record themselves as having no religious affiliation is something like 20 percent. Many people don't recognize what a high figure it is, and so politicians here who feel they have to curry favor with religious lobbies should maybe take a look at those statistics and realize that not everyone in this country is religious.
You say it's a bit of a mystery why America is so much more religious than other advanced countries. Do you have any thoughts on why it might be? Tied to that question of disposition, several readers also wondered if there is a genetic predisposition toward faith?
There probably is, but I don't think that really explains why America is so different from Britain. The least implausible suggestion that I've heard is that Britain and Scandinavian countries, which are also very non-religious, have an established church, and that kind of makes religion boring. Whereas in America, there is constitutionally a bar against an established church, and that could be one reason why religion has become so popular – it has become big business, it has become free enterprise, rival churches vie with each other for congregations and especially tax free ties.
Some readers see you as very evangelical in your atheism. Do you feel it a duty, just as some Christians might to share the word of God, to spread an atheist point of view?
Duty is a funny word. But when you say evangelical, I like to think that I don't shout or shriek, but employ a quiet, sober voice of reason. And reason is on our side.
You've talked about feeling uncomfortable with the impact of religion on children. In fact, one reader asked whether you would prefer to see no under-18s at church. What's your take?
I certainly wouldn't wish to prohibit parents influencing their children. However, for the rest of the world, to label a child a Catholic child simply because its parents are Catholic, seems to me to be a form of child abuse. The child is too young to know.
You can see the absurdity of talking about a Catholic child of four when you think what it would be like if we talked about an existentialist child of four, or a logical positivist of four. In other words, we wouldn't accept the labeling of a child based the parents' belief, so why do we accept it when it's religion? Why does religion get a free pass when it comes to labeling children in this way?
Man has the moral compass and man invented religion and the gods. There are a good number of other species that behave in ways that contribute to their community's good but to the detriment of the individual, and these animals don't have religions.
An important question to ask is, "Are we moral enough for God to accept us into heaven?" The answer is no. "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood." Romans 3:23-25.
yeah,, like reduce people by calling them sinners. Isn't that a brainwashing technique?
Bet if you evolved, you'd understand that it's education and positive affirmations which enable us to be good.
Sinners?? You people are sick, child minded insults to intelligence.
I agree with Dawkins on many things, but his near complete lack of understanding of culture is baffling. He sees everything through his biologist colored classes. The US has a distinct culture that was built primarily on a pioneer/frontier ideology. If you don't like it here, you can pick up and move somewhere else. That has not changed, despite the fact that there is no more frontier and the economics of today do not permit this sort of mobility.
This concept has shaped our culture in many ways, fostering this idea of "exceptionalism" – we're 'merican's. We must be right.
You forgot to make it clear you were being sarcastic. Fatal oversight.
How do you figure he is missing the significance of culture in his decades of work on cultural practices?
I think it's very telling that you say the US has a distinct culture- as opposed to what? All the other nations who are clones? We all have distinct cultures, that are also related.
You sound like you have a superiority complex- that Dawkins could understand other cultures, but not ours...please.
An atheist is someone who makes fun of a person who bases their life and quotes a really old book, while he's busy quoting from a Richard Dawkins book. We all have our gods. It's a pity atheist can't apply their intense intellect and realize that. Perhaps they'd be a little more humble.
go back to your cave..
intelligence is hereditary, primitive books have more value to you.
Do you still go to a doctor for bloodletting?
Wow, an atheist hurling insults... Crazy.
Intelligence is hereditary. Really? Since when?
Interesting. A pretty valid point.
What was 'valid'? The misunderstanding of atheism in general?
No the idea that atheists diss one by book written by humans to hold up another book written by a human.
Hey Disillusioned..................human found with a backhoe !
Backhoe cuts into dinosaur's tail, revealing rare fossil find
By Ben Brumfield, CNN
updated 6:35 AM EDT, Thu October 3, 2013 |
Hey Disillusioned and editors of the belief blog !
Francois Englert and Peter Higgs win the Nobel Prize in Physics
The particle that creates mass for our ass.
An Atheist is someone who doesn't believe something just because they have been told something all their lives, I have tried to believe in God, its just not gonna happen, way to many holes in that story!
you need to start calling yourself a Realist,, not atheists.
That's right Jim. You can't be an Atheist. You violate No more voodoo's orthodoxy. You've got to be an atheist just like him.
I guess a difference is that I never had to read anything from Dawkins to reach the same conclusions he has. Whereas for many of the religious, there's "required reading" ... over and over and over, until you get their meaning. And all of that without any proof. Now, that is astounding.
Its a lot easier than keeping up with the changes in evolution..first we were descendent of monkeys...well, there's been no identification of the 'in-between fossil' (even Clinton Dawkins admits that) from monkey to man...so now he says we're cousins. Nice how it all works out...at least for a few years, until we have to re-work it all over again.
Not true. I've never read a book about atheists or written by an atheist. Yet I don't believe in god(s).
You probably ought to...then you might be led to believe in God lol
"We all have our gods"..........?
Clearly, you do not understand atheism.
And also, this line – "It's a pity atheist can't apply their intense intellect and realize that."
ah-haaaaaaa, I'm not that smaaaaaart (i am actually – kneel before me). I'm probably just as much a laymen as you are, BUT..... 'sky-daddies' are 'sky-daddies' and I haven't been seeing the one advertised. So I give up.
An atheist does not have to quote Dawkins, or Hitchens, or anyone else, in order to not believe in a god or gods based on a total absence of evidence. Whereas a Christian does base his or her religious views – to varying degrees based on the individual involved – on a old book. And parts of that old book condone murder, genocide, ra-pe, and child abuse. Humans have developed morals because we are an evolved mammal species who live together in groups. We have evolved such survival mechanisms as empathy and what are referred to as "mirror neurones" which trigger a mirrored emotional response when we see, for example, someone else getting injured. We wince and grimace, sharing that pain.
Dawkins simply makes the point that religion and religious dogma is not a good source of morality, nor is it a necessary source of morality. The "Golden Rule" was around well before the time of Christ.
You dope. Just because we choose to believe in something that created this amazing planet we live on and all that is in/on it, does not make us any less than those that don't believe in any sort of god, being or monkey that created you or the planet you live on. I can tell you that if nothing created you, then nothing you shall return to. I believe someone (GOD) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob created me and I shall return to HIM. To each his own.
Thank You
An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in a god or gods. That is it...there is no other unifying factor, no matter how badly some want there to be.
You can hate all you want...make up fictional groups for us that are plotting against you...or whatever. For most of us, if you aren't trying to legislate your belief, we just do not care.
Posts like these, though...what are you trying to get at here?
"we just don't care"
Speak for yourself. There are plenty atheists out there who want to blot out all things God in our society. They aren't the leave me alone type. With that sour/angry look of Hitchens on their face, they'll go to any lengths to denigrate what others hold as sacred...call people names, act arrogant in their ignorance. Shame they can't be more like you.
Well said. I agree & often use this. Hope it makes sense to U.
An atheist has no belief. If I do not skateboard & someone is a skateboarder, one doesn't go around defining me as a
non-skateboarder. If one is a believer that's it. If one is an atheist, that's it. Atheism is not a religion. It is a lack of belief based on a lack of evidence.
Atleast with a Dawkins Book you can ask the author what he really meant. As for myself I have never read any of Dawkins books, so have no esteem in which I hold him. But good effort at stereotyping.
LOL. Atheist have no intellect. If they did they wouldn't be atheists...
@Bill, Assuming you are being metaphoric in stating that we all have gods, I can tell you that some gods are more rational than others. For example, the god, Money is a very rational and reasonable god. I deliver energy, it returns energy in a stored tangible form that I can then use for accumulating and spending on other energy forms.
Incidentally, the same cannot be said about prayer.
i think the single most problematic issue with this topic is the anti-atheist's constant attempts to redefine atheism.
Donna sez "i think the single most problematic issue with this topic is the anti-atheist's constant attempts to redefine atheism."
thanks Donna; many could replace anti theist and atheism with anti-religionists and atheism with Christians.
You've spent countless hours typing your opinion. We get it.
The atheist as arrogant versus the humble believer argument is totally absurd. What is more humble, a non-believer who sees themselves as a brief blip of cosmic consequence whose existence is due to physics and random chance or the believer who asserts that they have a close, personal relationship with the creator of the universe who sculpted them in his likeness with divine intent?
The latter doesn't reek of humility to me.
The humility for a believer should come in when they realize they have a relationship with their creator through none of their own merit......not because of who they are but in spite of who they are.
No self respecting atheist runs around quoting atheist authors, or looking to an author to help them come to an understanding of their personal version of spirituality for that matter. The point is truth and that's it. Religion is falsehood, and we don't propagate respect for falsehood in any other subject in the world, we seek the truth and push falsity aside.
The idea of divinity is offensive to our very existence. Religion is a thought disease and turns the carrier in to an emotional cripple, incapable of accepting mortality and building standards for themselves based upon jaded perceptions and an imaginary divine balance of the universe.
Belief is the opposite of humility. If you believe in god, you believe yourself to be something you are not, a special little child of god. There's nothing humble about divine origins. The blind Devotees love to throw the idea of an Atheist worshiping himself in our face, but I see no basis for this, it's a knee jerk reaction that the broken mind of a believer could only invent, a true atheist worships NOTHING. Removing god from the equation removes the sense of "special" from the individual. I'm not special, and neither are you.
I just have a much easier time turning my back on the idea of religion because I don't have anything emotionally invested in subscription to it. I used to drink the kool-aid, when I was 12. Thankfully I had the resilience to stand up to the mass hysteria and be an isolated individual rather than a sheep sucked in to a flock of the deaf, blind and dumb.
An atheist is merely one who does not believe in deities. It denotes nothing more than that. There are those who are vocal, combating prejudice and stereotypes and outright lies from mostly religious people who somehow find the very existence of atheist a threat. The fact is, you never hear from most atheists/agnostics, including those that make up 93% of the elite scientists of The National Academy of Sciences lacking belief in a supernatural deity (at the intellectual level with which they set out to understand the natural world, its just irrelevent, provincial and makes no innate sense-they can't believe [one cannot consciously choose to believe or disbelieve]).
Had to post here
Holy Trollers: How to argue about religion online.................with FACTS !
By John Blake, CNN
Comments from John Blake article above that are facts !
anyone know where to get the author's email address? tried to find an email for John Blake at CNN but could not.
October 6, 2013 at 10:46 pm | Report abuse | Reply
Tom, Tom, the Other One
Careful, he's banned me. I've had to go to a different IP address block. I was critical of him, but not abusive. He's not a particularly stand up guy.
October 6, 2013 at 10:48 pm | Report abuse | Reply
it's obvious from the article that he doesn't like to hear opposing opinions unless they are sugar coated.
October 6, 2013 at 11:06 pm | Report abuse | Reply
Tom, Tom,
John Blake banned you? Today? Or was it Daniel Burke a while back?
October 6, 2013 at 11:08 pm | Report abuse | Reply
Tom, Tom, the Other One
After I returned from dinner this evening. I found I couldn't even post "ping". I changed my IP and I'm on for now.
October 6, 2013 at 11:14 pm | Report abuse |
A follow up article below.
A Response to Richard Dawkins
by Dennis Prager posted on October 10, 2013 01:47AM GMT
Thanks to Katy Cordeth for the link!
This past Friday, CNN conducted an interview with Richard Dawkins, the British biologist most widely known for his polemics against religion and on behalf of atheism.
Surprised the article was here and not on CNN belief blog where Daniel Burke has banned a few HOLY TROLLERS !!!
Hey Bill Jean
Education will help.....good news for education below!
Texas Textbook Publishers Say No To Creationism: Watchdog Report
I agree. Just because an individual is atheist hurling condescending comments towards those who consider themselves religious is just as annoying as someone religious hurling insults at someone of a different religion. It is true that science and reason give more evidence of evolution and show the unlikely hood of religious origin stories as our beginnings, but that doesn't mean forces we are unaware of isn't out there. In short, reason and science doesn't explain everything so acting like it does is just as arrogant as insisting that some magical being up in the sky is responsible for everything.
Who do you want as your instructor on moral teaching, Richard Dawkins or Jesus Christ? In a purely atheistic world view there is no objective basis for morality at all. You simply can not talk about what people AUGHT to do. If people just came about out of time, plus chance then there is no intrinsic value to life at all and there is no legitimate reason to say any behaviour is intrinsically wrong or right. As Dawkin's says, we "just dance to our DNA" and do what our impulses drive us to do. It is simply non nonsensical to talk about any kind of objective morality in a purely naturalistic word view. He is not following his own "religion" when he insists on talking about morality as any kind of of objective truth. He is borrowing heavily from the moral context of our society which was heavily influenced by the moral constraints inherited from Christianity.
First of all, there are many other options than just moral relativism and Christianity. You could believe in Utilitarianism or Kantianism. You can be a social contract theorist. You try to split the world into two choices, either accept Jesus Christ or believe in no objective moral system, but there are so many more options, and I wouldn't bother start with Dawkins.
Now, can Kantianism, Utilitarianism, social contract theory, ext., be proven correct? Are any of them objective truths? Well, proving anything logically without premises is impossible. Perhaps we as atheists have certain premises that we hold faith in. Kant uses the premise that there is a universal objective moral system to prove his. If you want to call that faith in a premise, then I would agree with you.
^^ proof of evolution,, a post will appear soon
No god(s) created US..............evolution did.
(Researchers say ability to throw played a key role in human evolution
Jun 26, 2013
Science... Big words and not a shred of evidence to back it up. All you have is a theory, which don't mean a thing...
You might want to read this for more facts = truth.
Where do morals come from?
(not from the bible/religion)
By Kelly Murray, CNN
April 12th, 2013
Anthropologists Confirm Link Between Cranial Anatomy and Two-Legged Walking
Sep. 26, 2013 — Anthropology researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have confirmed a direct link between upright two-legged (bipedal) walking and the position of the foramen magnum, a hole in the base of the skull that transmits the spinal cord.
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The study, published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Human Evolution,
Where did people get their morals before Christianity?
They are inherent in humans. We evolved morals as a survival mechanism.
Morality does not exist outside of God. Nuf said...
@ end times – which God? And why that god, versus the thousands of other gods? The god of the bible? The jealous, genocidal maniac? Great moral example: the people that i created are bad, so I'll kill them all. Oh, and I'll wipe out all fo the animals too, because of the bad people.
Who told you that in an atheistic world there was no basis for morality?
Someone has been feeding you false information concerned....
jesus needed a good therapist,, to bad we didn't have any back then.
Moral Compass. Law. They are complex topics. Religion, with its human elements, has done horrible mistakes in history. Nobody can't deny that. But also Religion has given us the urge to realize that this world's beauty points to a powerful being. Case in point: We will never RE-create what surrounds us here and all over the Universe. On the other hand, the mystery of our existence cannot be fully interpreted by Atheism. A big bang theory does not cut it It's a mystery...we will never know why are we here on earth. That's when Faith comes in. My quest in life was, is and will be THE EXPERIENCE GOD.
I have. And, nobody can't take that away from me.
The fruits of my faith are now more tangible than ever: A happy, thriving marriage of 41 years. Three loyal, loving children, and also 6 loving grandchildren.
We know what it means TO LOVE and to BE LOVED. Be it among ourselves or with God.
Once you experience (at least one time) that LOVE from our heavenly father, you stop writing theories and stop
criticizing what you DON'T KNOW.
"By their fruits you will know them" – Matthew 7:16
Dawkins' article tries to substantiate "certainties"
Have you, when coming out of bed in the morning, asked yourself this question: Am I 100% certain about what I know and do is 100 % correct?
I have, many times.
Can't help to realize that I don't know everything and I never will. But, I will trust the Lord that whatever purposes or intentions I will pursue, He will turn them into greater ones!
Then again, I rejoice in my life (I'm 67) everyday and I enjoy a peace that this world can't ever give me!!!
Faith has served me well. It works! It gave me high ideals to pursue. There's a lot of wisdom in the Bible too!
Religion will not fade away completely. I believe that! It will come with another approach and practicality!
More than Religion can offer...and that is the divine experience is between God and you...nobody else!
why would you want to be 100% certain that you were correct?
"I know that I am wise because I know that I know nothing" – Socrates
To be fair the man did live more then 2000 years ago.
Short version: I don't know; therefore, God.
Why not, I don't know; therefore Zeus? Thor? Ra? Manitou? Leprechauns? Aliens?
All equally valid, using that logic.
Rejoice! There is no god and no afterlife! Once you die, everthing you have done will become meanlingless.What? You had kids? They'll die too.
Shame. I know you want to live forever, but we cannot. It is sad. But it's okay, you will more than likely NOT have to remember oblivion. We kinda just blink out, I guess..... no more ice-cream, or loving, or Disney World......
(BWAAAAAAA – now you made ME cry........... )
I understand the anxiety that fact causes, but like all things one gets used to it and sees it for what it is, change the essence of the cosmos and it is our own actions that can lift us from that. Immortality is within our reach and with that the chance to create paradise here and now. Think about it all the time in the universe to do what you want, where you want and with whom you want. Yet i fear it can only be achieved with science and the perseverance to make ours and the lives of others as prosperous as possible. While I cannot dispute the fact that there MIGHT have been a creator the concept of a perfect all powerful force is impossible in its essence. It is an ideal something a thing of human reasoning to be strived for jet never reached. For if there is one constant in the universe is that nothing is absolute a good could not make a cup off tea so hot he/she/it could not drink it. Because the concept of being all powerful works both ways and contradicts itself.
Yeah, that's an old George Carlin joke, "Can God himself make a rock so big that he himself cannot lift it?"
Um yeah. That's very warm and comforting. I really Do not understand how all athiests aren't utter nihilists.
Why wait until once you die for all of your actions To be meaningless? You you gave life to soulless zombies to continue carrying on I'm not sure what.....
To make life better for your fellow souless zombies?
You could shoot yourself full of drugs and get the same feelings stimulated without actually having to put your life in a framework of higher ideals, if all you are is just a stew of chemicals.
What you are describing is called the "Experience Machine". This thought experiment was developed by Robert Nozick to refute Hedonism.
Of course, many other philosophers have come up with many other rationales for what is ethical and why.
Am I just a stew of chemicals? Physically, certainly I would argue that I am nothing more than a structured assimilation of chemicals. But, by that same logic, you could argue that all abstractions, mathematics, logic, good, ect. do not exist. Does that mean that mathematics is not valuable? That logic is not valuable?
I value mathematics. I value logic. I value my ethical constructs. I value my friends. All of these are abstractions, disassociated with the matter that represents them. I do not value drug induced euphoria. Perhaps none of these things exist, but I value them all the same, and I see nothing wrong with that.
It's very hard to grasp that if you don't beleive in such unproven concepts as God, and look to cold hard facts, why you then would base higher emotions or ideals on anything but a stew of chemicals that you can just as easily stimulate with drugs. Why not aknowledge what they are, chemicals- as opposed to acting so illogically and idealistically on them.
"Once you die, everthing you have done will become meanlingless."
No, I am not a utilitarian. I value ideals, abstractions, things that do not materially exist, more than I value anything material.
Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.
There is a face beneath this mask but it's not me. I'm no more that face than I am the muscles beneath it or the bones beneath them.
LOL. Big words and not a shred of evidence to back it up. What a moron...
I do not believe in 'Bible-god' or any other 'god' humans have submitted thus far. But I am honored to be alive, and to be apart of this process called 'life', however wide it may go.....
Live well...
Deep blue. Great for that quote! You and I are in agreement! Aren't we? To accept we are not totally correct, totally certain! That is called HUMILITY!
Arrogance, being in love with words rather than people (politically correct phrasing) is destroying our society in ways we cannot quantify!
In every political, social, religious arena: We have a love affair with words and not with people. And, that arrogance is destroying our marriages, our families, our churches, and ourselves when it comes to relate to one another.
We all hold a piece of the truth. And, that carries in itself a need to reason why you and I are compelled to validate our ways of thinking. I mean, try to understand fully what the other is trying to convey to us. And their human experience will enrich ours!!!! Raising children, for example, has taught me to listen carefully, to ask more questions and identify with them why, when and where their perception is different than ours!
I don't need knowledge as an absolute. There's a Franciscan motto that is founded on this principle: Knowledge should be preceded by Love!!
So, I really love your quote. Accepting your limitations as a human is called "HUMILITY". As a matter of fact, let us have a humility lesson each day so that we are reminded to be humble, like Jesus was!
Every time I took the first step to ask for forgiveness (not taking into the matter who was right or wrong) , the results were unexpectedly and mutually beneficial. The humble approach helped to disarm the opponent!
Before I speak, I will listen to you attentively – setting aside my truths!! Humility is the mother of all virtues!
Honestly I didn't read your post carefully enough the first time, but it appears that we do agree on some things. I will try to read more carefully in the future.
Now they attack religions. Now they are selling their religion. Man, what's up with CNN ? Every school child knows that atheism is a belief system, a religion just like any other and under atheism there is a lack of moral compass all together.
I mean look at history !
Funny how often a religious person will say atheism is a religion, as if that is a is a negative thing. So are you saying we are as dumb as you are?
Certainly, lets look at history.
Columbus wrote: "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."
I should not have made the implication that this i representative of all Christians. My post was offensive. I apologize.
"The Führer said: 'In defending against the Jew, I do the work of the Lord.'"-Anti-Semitic Instruction for Girls, Germany 1944
I should not have made the implication that this i representative of all Christians. My post was offensive. I apologize
Uh, he was appealing to the Lutheran and Roman Catholic church to gain their support. Politicians say this all of the time. Remember Obama saying "I've come to Jesus...". Well, true Christians don't believe him nor do the liberals who supported him–it was a wink wink moment.
I do not bring these quotes up to suggest that religion was the cause. To say that someone lacks a moral compass because of their religion (or lack there of as some would call it) is to deny them of moral responsibility for their actions. When I commit wrongs, it is not because I am an atheist. When you commit wrongs, it is not because you are Christian.
Correct, we commit wrongs because we are sinners.
You need to look up the word "system" in the dictionary. It requires multiple parts. Atheism refers to one thing and on thing ONLY. It's not a system- nothing plural, it's a singular thing.
Clinton Dawkins says Religion is no moral compass. Just look to him and his past/present comments on pedophilia and his buddy, Lawrence Krauss' comments on incest.
Now that's a morality worth striving for! (sarcasm off)
What's weird is, atheists are more moral than religious people. The worst people I know are the most religious and the best are atheist .
My old man always said, stay out of the military and church. And stay in school.
I was very lucky.
And yet, Atheist are more moral than religious people.
Now thats weird .
That's a pretty blanketing and unproven statement from a science – following atheist..
So wise....so thoughtful.....so enlightened.... What smart human beings we have here commenting back and forth like little children arguing on a playground.
Not one of you know enough to confirm or deny that there is a creator, designer, god or a smart extra terrestrial that put all this in motion. You haven't been around long enough and you haven't seen it all. Do you understand that? Scientists- as amazing as they are, are not qualified to even attempt answering such questions. That is not there job. They can only observe in the natural world. Philosophers and the Faithful are allowed to believe whatever they want, without some nerdly, ascerbic scientist/activist making fun of them. Do you Get it? Get it?? Shut the hell up and move on to another subject.
It takes only a juvenile mentality to adapt to atheism. I did so at age 15 after being immersed in Missouri Synod Lutheranism. Narrow minded, corrupt, anti-science, full of the hatred and punishments from GOD, who promised
his "wrath, displeasure, and eternal damnation" to any poor or unaware "sinner". In 1943 looking at the untimely deaths in combat of my father and uncles...I decided that such a "God" had no right to his biblical arrogance. The Bible is full of hatreds, blood revenge, blood sacrifice, all very much in vogue in B.C. and early A.D. history. If one simply refuses to "believe" in anything supernatural, atheism is an obvious choice, that comes with its own problems about what a civilized humanity might be all about.
Religion at one time served a valuable purpose; however, in modern day society it no longer does. Far too many atrocities have been committed with the influence of religion. The Crusades, The Inquisition, Salem witch trials, Jim Jones, 9/11.
Religion is harmful to the social progress of society.
Imo Religion did not cause 911. Religion was used and twisted by a guy to cause a us disaster because he didn't like the fact the us had bases in Saudi Arabia.
I'm still waiting for one of the soapbox atheists to acknowledge and deal with the fact that the two bloodiest dictators of the 20th century, Stalin and Mao, slaughtered millions in the name of their atheistic programs of "progress."
The "god" of the bible slaughtered 3 times as many in his name. Go read the book and start using your calculator. You'll need it to keep track of the millions dead in his name. Evil people are evil whether or not they believe in some sky daddy. Religion is a scourge this planet needs to rid itself of, plain and simple.
And that same God was wise enough and intelligent enough to realize from the beginning that people like you would be born and would exist. People who have no problem with "speaking evil of dignities" and "speaking evil of things you understand not." Therefore, in his great wisdom and foresight, the great God intentionally allowed and placed certain scriptures in the bible to serve as "traps", traps designed to ensnare devils, knowing that when certain people came along, people who have an evil heart (people like yourself), that you would read those scriptures and get a bad thought. And by doing so, your own thoughts would condemn you and send your soul to hell. Which is exactly where you belong. In the pit with the rest of the devils. In contrast, when a good person comes along, someone who has a good heart, and reads those same scriptures, guess what, they have no problem with it. Why? Because they fully know and understand that anything which the eternal God does is "right", and they don't question it. Even if they don't understand it, they still don't question it. As a consequence, when that good person dies, they'll be saved, and will make it into heaven…
2 Peter 2:12 – But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2 Thess 2:11 – And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie…and be damned…
Humans rule humans and God can't have anything to do with it, since no human possesses, nor has ever possessed, the ability to know what God wants.
If any of us stick to religion so tightly that we begin to claim we know what God wants such individuals are all being very presumptive and also ignorant because they are actually saying that they are equal enough to God that they can understand God. Regardless of any human's perfection, it is impossible for humans to comprehend God. God is a concept a being so far beyond all of us, we are foolish to think or expect we could ever comprehend it.
In the end because we can't possibly know what God wants, humans are all left to work it out among themselves as humans.
Any true sent preacher knows precisely what God wants. God tells them everything. For they a God's personal ambassadors on earth...
2 Corinthians 5:20 – Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
You are reading from the bible with human eyes and interpreting with your mind; you cannot know that you are reading is God's word, nor can you hope to have what it takes to understand God, unless you think you are equal to God.
I think one can be an atheist against organized religion but still be a spiritual person with or without a belief of something beyond our current state of reason. I consider myself very spiritual but I am never going to believe rules set down in a book like the Bible ...unless they are good rules but that belief will be my choice. I suspect we are all atheists to one form of religion or other ...how many people believe that "Mars" the god of war actually exists ...or a Mayan Sun God? ...we all are atheists to one religion if we believe in another. I tend to take a spiritual approach that life has some unanswered questions about the mystery of life and death ...I try not to use words like belief or disbelief and find it more "reasonable" to exist in a state of Wonder. We will all die one day and then if something more exists we will believe it then I suppose ...until then I keep a spiritual compass of what is good and bad for me and wonder of ways to improve human society and my life and the lives of those I love. There may be a some benefits of some religions for some people but in today's world its hard to see .. the horrors of organized religions are quite apparent and I have no doubt that if there is a God ..she is aghast of what is done in her name. Religion is one thing ..spirituality is quite another and has nothing to do with belief but more to do with wonder and an open heart and mind. My God and temple are my mind and heart ...my bible is one word ...kindness.
A most excellent missive! While I count myself Christian, I cannot help but be aware that ALL scriptures have been written by man (largely gender specific) and seem to vest God with all of mens (again largely gender specific). I am fortunate to be in a liberal thinking church quite unlike Westboro Baptist Hate Center. The thought occurs to me that those who do the right and moral thing simply because it is right and moral may be....dare I say...."closer to Christ" than those do the same out of fearing punishment (Hell) or greedily seeking reward (Heaven). 'Twould be nice if the individual conciousness somehow survives death intact and continues on to a great adventure and I do not think it is scientifically impossible. Humans have only begun to scratch the surface of what can be done and it seems quite conceited to think we are the top of the universal/dimensional creation. As to "miracles" it has been said that any technology, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic.
Religion is a human crutch.........and not a solution.......to the worst sorts of human behaviors.
Indeed, religion itself, fosters some of those very same worst kinds of behaviors, among humans.
If religion is a crutch then it's the only crutch that can save your soul. What does it matter if you own the whole world, if when you die you go straight to hell...
Lucifer is responsible for evil. Not religion. Even if religion didn't exist, man would still be evil...
You dopes. Just because we choose to believe in something that created this amazing planet we live on and all that is in/on it, does not make us any less than those that don't believe in any sort of god, being or monkey that created you or the planet you live on. I can tell you that if nothing created you, then nothing you shall return to. I believe someone (GOD) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob created me and I shall return to HIM. To each his own.
Reading opinions like 'SayWhaaaat"s makes me realize the wisdom behind a cartoon in an ancient issue of Mad Magazine (that greatest of American contributions to global culture!). It shows a benevolent looking cannibal stirring a pot in which, amid bobbing carrots and onions, sits an American Baptist preacher. The cannibal says: "You see, Pastor Jacob, we each serve humanity in our own way".
Lighten up, dear SayWhaaaat...Khuda Hafeez!
And the real problem is the issue about the church/religion trying to control the red hor-ny beast in the bedroom !
The academic postulation of Greed and it's origin....."The devil was the first racist or ethnocentric. He was the first individual to demand and desire preferential roles simply due to his perceptible nature. And ever since, those who desire, demand and think they deserve some form of unique treatment, opportunities or insulation simply because of the color " – Dr. Peregrino Brimah. The devil democratic philosophy discredited the Oligarchical Collectivism and the Authoritarian ideology of his creator hence the revolt but how does this act help to shape man in becoming superior to the devil is a matter of intrinsic mind streaming euphoria. However, everyone is born with a pinch of the devil's gene; after-all, we are all born sinners even before conception. This theory could as well be the fallacy of an academic peripheral projection on Class/ Racist genealogy.
This guy .........along with his false religion of un belief that the undeniable handywork of God and his creation and life,blood and DNA/ astronomical mathematical and known complexities in and of the undeniably created built in attributes of earth and our worlds place /position in the universe, explained by saying that it is simply evolving,from nothing, takes even greater belief system than creation science or other but without a shred of evidence,only denial ........... is a Grade A Weirdo
Romans 9 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?