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| 2003/10/20-21 [Reference/Religion] UID:10694 Activity:high |
10/19 Has anyone ever heard of "The Landmark Forum"? My friend has strongly
recommended that I attend their classes. I have heard of mostly good
things about it. However, I think they might be bias. Anyone here
has any experiences and/or comments?
\_ I have had, at current count, six of my friends go through Landmark
or one of its equivalents. My conclusion is that it's "mostly
harmless". They've all gone through the same stage of intense
enthusiasm followed about a year or two later by retrospection. I
think it is very cult-ish and their focus on parents is monocultural
hocum but it did really help some of my more stressed our friends
find a kind of grip on everyday life and made them easier to hang
around with. -- ulysses
\_ Before or after you clubbed them in the head a few times?
\_ After. --ulysses
\_ http://www.100megsfree4.com/apostate
\_ It's just "est", repackaged under a different name. - danh
\_ est. 70s-80s era self help movement with odd cultish
aspects. The founder fled the country and then his
brother took over and renamed it 'The Landmark Forum'.
I remember reading about a lot of Microsoft employees
who were into it which made me happy. go read
http://skepdic.com/est.html - danh
\_ Eastern Standard Time?
\_ Electric Shock Therapy!
\_ The father of a girl I dated was a speaker for this and really
into it... it always seemed like a bit of a crock to me... I
found this to be an interesting account of one session: (albeit
from a jesus freak)
http://tektonics.org/est.html
btw, her father's name was "Alan Cahn" (mentioned in the article)
\_ A cult is a cult is a cult. If that's really your friend you
would do something to help them escape.
\_ A friend of mine went. She loved it. She thought it was the
answer to life, love, and everything. She then started getting all
her friends to go to help them (even if they didn't want helping).
When she tried to get my g/f to go, my g/f finally relucantly
agreed. My g/f was asked to not attend again when she kept
questioning everything they said. Sounds like a cult (or at least
a pyramid scheme that feeds on peoples low self-esteem) to me. If
it does help people, great, but not everyone needs to be helped!!
\_ If people want spiritual help, why can't they seek out the local
church instead of going to these new age nonsense? Jesus is the
one true God. Jesus will help you and save you. Put your faith
on Jesus and no one else.
\_ I just love you guys!
\_ I thought the Nicene Creed said Jesus was NOT God?
\_ Of one being with the father.
\_ How about you actually try to explain that? The whole
son of god, is god, dying somehow affecting sins, etc.?
\_ Talk to the Pope. This is the motd.
\_ are you honestly curious or just trolling?
\_ I'm trolling. Because they can't explain it. None
of it makes any sense whatsoever. The only way to
accept it is to just shut off your brain. The same
idiots watch that "crossing over" garbage. Yeah,
people's dead relatives have nothing better to do
than pathetically attempt to communicate trite
health advice and whatnot.
\_ the only reason i'm helping you now, zaphod
is that i can't bear the thought of you and your
disreputable freinds slouching around up here...
\_ I loved it. It was much better than "Cats." I'm going to see it
again and again.
\_ I thought the Nicean (sp?) Creed said Jesus was NOT God?
\_ I believe in God and Jesus Christ.
I do not believe in John Edward's Crossing
Over. There is a level of faith
which you need to have (God). right now, maybe
you just don't understand or do not have
the Faith yet. Nothing wrong with that
right now. Just hope a good person
can introduce you to it all.
\_ Ok, I'll bite. I'm one of the few real
atheists here who isn't offended by Christians
telling me i don't *yet* have Faith. I don't
care that you wish others will find the same
Faith as you. The same can be said of the
Linux crowd and they're much more obnoxious
about it and smelly as well. What I don't
understand is why do you assume that others
will, in time, come around to your way of
thinking as a matter of fact? Perhaps some
of us have our beliefs firmly grounded in
our own self exploration and will *never* come
around your way. And why your way? Why not
any of the umpteen other major and minor
religions and philosophies on the planet? What
gets me about the religious is that all of you
take it on faith that your way is the one true
way but none of you have any reason to believe
so beyond old hand-me-down stories and books
or scrolls that have either been retranslated
a few dozen times or we can barely read the
langauges of today. What's up with that? I
hope you're a real Christian and not someone
mocking it because I'd like to get a real
response.
\_ So, who introduced you to the atheist
religion? -- agnostic
\_ atheist, agnostic, whatever. they're
essentially the same thing. what do
you call someone who believes god may
or may not exist, that we may or may
not be able to find out whether or not
he exists, and that even if he does
and we do, he probably doesn't concern
himself too much with us anyway?
\_ It is not essentially the same thing.
An agnostic is someone who does not
have enough information to comment
on the existence of God. An atheist
is someone who believes he does
(but doesn't). I am very surprised
people confuse the two. As far as
philosophical commitments, atheism
is closer to theism than agnosticism.
-- agnostic
\_ Nice explanation. -mice
\_ Oh bullshit. Yes, it's true that
one cannot prove the nonexistence
of something. Especially something
that is defined to be "magical".
But you either believe it or not.
Agnosticism says it's unknowable.
But it is as knowable as anything
else. You don't lead your life
based on irrelevant possibilities
for which you have zero evidence.
So for all intents and purposes,
you are atheist. You just cling to
the agnostic label like a spineless
weasel. The absence of evidence is
evidence of absence, prima facie.
Good enough for a court of law.
\_ Agnosticism doesn't say God is
unknowable. Agnosticism says
there isn't enough information
at the moment. Maybe one day
that will change. For someone
who argues against agnosticism
you know very little about it.
Personally, I treat both
possibilities (God/No God)
very seriously. I am also
surprised you are resorting to
name calling. I don't
understand what about my beliefs
you find offensive. I don't
find you offensive, merely
overcommitted.
-- agnostic
\_ most atheists are most likely
special-case agnostics.
\_ No they are not.
Agnostics and atheists
are fundamentally
different. Agnostics
(correctly) do not jump
to conclusions.
Atheists and theists do.
\_ What kind of proof are you
looking for?
\_ the belief/religion of relativism..
a belief that there are no absolutes
(such as relativism) is very
absolute onto itself..
\_ I have basically given up trying to talk to
people about this. Whenever I have, in the
past, it invariably had two possible out-
comes. 1) getting angry and cutting off any
discussion or 2) the person ignores all the
specific details of the religion and just
talks about feelings etc. They completely
just accept without question all the details
based on this generic spiritual feeling, and
can't dissociate the two.
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WEEEEEEE!
From http://m-w.com: Etymology: Greek agnOstos unknown, unknowable _/
Definitions vary. How are you so sure what agnostic means?
For someone who claims to be agnostic, you don't seem to know
much about it. Here's a little site that's kind of cogent:
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/ath/blathq_athorag.htm
Go look at the history of the term. I find it irrelevant.
I am convinced there's no god, although obviously if one came
along I'd have to change my belief right? But a biblical-style
god is among the least believable things I can imagine. Alien
life is more believable, although I have no direct evidence.
And you are an atheist unless you believe in god.
\_ Do you believe the existence of a spiritual realm?
\_ Very well. If you think atheist = !theist, then agnostics
are a subset, although that's not a very meaningful
definition. If you think atheist = !god, then agnostics are
not a subset. I like the latter definition. My dictionary
and my friends agree with me.
\_ Fine. But that stuff about being overcommitted is silly.
I don't believe in Santa Claus. Do you have an opinion?
What's the practical difference anyway? Are you afraid
that the hypothetical god would be pissed if you aren't
always careful to stipulate to people that you don't know
"for sure"? |
| 2003/10/20 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:10695 Activity:nil |
10/19 Things we've learned from Republicans lately:
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2003/10/20/tomo/story.jpg
\_ 5, 4, 3...
\_ I'll put in my thank you for submitting this before it all devolves
into the usual flamefest.
\_ 2...
\_ There's no point in going through a line by line correction.
It's a cartoon from salon. I could post links to my favorite
conservative websites the same as the OP is posting from one of
their favorite leftist ones but what would be the point of doing
that? --Eevviil BushCo Conspirator
\_ That you'd taken the bait?
\_ If it makes you feel better to think so. Meta comment on
a link is not the same as biting down hard. --EBCC
\_ I bet you're a Yankees fan.
\_ Feeling better, yet? |
| 2003/10/20 [Consumer/Camera] UID:10696 Activity:nil |
10/19 Any recommendations on where to find reviews/comparisons of digital
cameras? I'm not exactly sure what I am looking for I was looking
at a Fuji FinPix 3800, but it seems like it might be a bit more
than I need. I'm pretty amateur photographically.
\_ http://www.dpreview.com
\_ Seriously. This is THE site.
\_ The site seems very usefull, but it is way over my head
I'm afaid. I can't really use the buying guide as it
require more technical expertise than I have. E.g.
The units for zoom and tele-zoom are not familiar to me.
\_ Go to the forums on the site.
\_ http://www.steves-digicams.com is also good.
\_ A related question, do interpolated pixels add any data
or is this like optical zoom where you could do it
all in software afterward?
\_ In general, interpolation is bad. You are losing picture
info. This is what's done with digital zoom. You can do
the equivalent of digital zoom by taking a picture with
optical zoom only, and then cropping the picture using
software. The more mega-pixels, the better, when you
want to do cropping.
\_ Well one of the camers was claiming native
2048x1536 and 2816 x 2120 (interpolated)
should I just ignore the interpolated number,
or is it capturing CCD data I may not get otherwise?
\_ Yes, just ignore anything with digital
zoom/interpolated stuff.
\_ you have optical and digital zoom mixed up. Optical zoom is
good; digital zoom is bad and can be done in Photoshop.
\_ Yeah, I was thinking one thing and typed another.
\_ Canon PowerShot A60. All the newbies love it. A little heavy --
post again if you want a lighter one. Basically you want one
with 3x zoom and a real viewfinder (not just LCD).
\_ If you want light, go for the new Sonys. My coworker has one
that is as light as a disposable. Oh, and he's happy with the
picture quality. Myself, I have a Canon Powershot S45. Heavy,
but quality is quite nice, even in dummy (mostly auto) mode.
\_ http://www.imaging-resource.com
I especially like how they have the time it takes for each camera
to snap a picture from when you hit the button. |
| 2003/10/20-21 [Uncategorized] UID:10698 Activity:nil |
10/20 What are the current pay rates for UGSIs in the CS department?
\_ back in my day, it was fifteen cents an hour and we liked it.
and we had to bring our own replacement tubes.
\_ You had tubes? We wished we had tubes. We wished we were
allowed to wish. We could only wish when no one was looking.
\_ Ask the CS department maybe, eh?
\_ I'm just curious. I'm not even an undergrad anymore.
\_ What is UGSI? |
| 2003/10/20-21 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows, Computer/SW/Unix] UID:10699 Activity:kinda low |
10/20 What is the new UCLINK gonna be? What OS? What software? What/When?
\_ TRS-DOS, VSN.
\_ Software: Communigate Pro, Stalker.
Hardware: ~three front-end, two back end PC servers running Linux,
with NetApp for storage.
Schedule: Primary implementation December/January, additional
features (including stuff like @Berkeley.EDU addresses)
over the next few months. \
-tom \_ I kiss you!
\_ Which Netapp boxes? Connected via what? smb? nfs? direct?
\_ I don't currently have the technical details. -tom
\_ Probably some POS 250 or something given how the rest
of it is being done.
-tom |
| 2003/10/20 [Politics, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:10700 Activity:nil 75%like:10713 |
10/20 danh in the news
http://csua.org/u/4qn
\_ That you, aspo? |
| 2003/10/20-21 [Computer/SW/Languages] UID:10701 Activity:nil |
10/21 Does any online digital printing service print dates/timestamps?
I know Ofoto doesn't...
\_ why do you want a timestamp on your picture? If you name
your file properly, some photo services print the filename
at the back of your photo print.
\_ Well, I don't take a lot of pix and I would order prints
like couple of years after they were taken. Ofoto and
Shutterfly do print the "print date" on the back, but
then it would be nice if they print the date when the
pictures were taken somewhere too. |
| 2003/10/20-21 [Computer/SW/Languages/C_Cplusplus, Computer/Networking] UID:10702 Activity:kinda low |
10/20 I need to design some sort of tcp socket system for responding to
client commands (sent from a gui). The client will be sending
text strings such as "set_foo_bar_baz=2340", but usually more complex.
The server delegates the command to a specific function, which will
respond with a potentially large (10Kb) response string. Is it
possible to pass the socket descriptor to the command handler s.t.
the handler can fprintf() to the socket? Is this advisable? TIA.
\_ What's wrong with passing the socket descriptor and using
send()?
\_ print formatting, ease of use, etc. Also, it's a realtime
system and we can only allocate memory at startup.
\_ How can you have a realtime system rely on tcp? Are you sure
it's a realtime system? -- ilyas
\_ The socket code is running in a low priority task which
talks to the RT task. I'm interested in the file
descriptor solution because a dynamic malloc (even at
low-pri) might be too slow... the alternative is a purely
static buffer allocation, which I then pass into the
command handlers... but formatted printing into a char
array (sprintf; strcat) isn't quite as nice as fprintf.
\_ I think the tcp latency will dominate any latency from
a dynamic malloc. Mallocs aren't that slow, compared
to a slow network. Unless of course, your tcp is local.
Even in that case, the protocol makes no guarantees
about delivery times, so it would be difficult to
convince anyone your system is truly real time.
-- ilyas
\_ The RT data is coming in over the system bus; tcp
is only used for command & control. I'm not
experienced enough to actually know what's going on,
but my mandate is that malloc is a no-no. At any
rate, it looks like the static malloc decision has
already been made. Thanks for your help though.
\_ Must be Linux based.
\_ http://members.cox.net/defiant_penguin/documents/basic-socket.html
There, have phun.
\_ I think phun is depreciated.
\_ Really? Can I write it off on my taxes? Or do
you really mean deprecated?
\_ just read the link retard. |
| 2003/10/20-21 [Uncategorized] UID:10703 Activity:nil |
10/20 snurl >> http://csua.org/u \_ Um, whatever. it does the same thing, and it's some random third party that you know nothing about. \_ yeah, they're probably stealing the links for the TIA. \_ Why would something like this need to set a cookie? |
| 2003/10/20-21 [Uncategorized] UID:10704 Activity:nil |
10/20 You guys still getting telemarketer calls?
\_ Fewer. They have 3 months or so to clean their databases. |
| 2003/10/20-21 [Consumer/Camera] UID:10705 Activity:nil |
10/20 Yahoo! News - David Blaine Being Tested at Hospital
http://csua.org/u/4qo
Why is he called a magician when all he does is plain stunts?
\_ he is a magician who uses his stunts to get notoriety
\_ Dood: Itz Street Magic. What up?
\_ How does he do the self levitation trick? Is that just by using
an upward momentum or some device is his shoes?
\_ The Masked Magician guy revealed this on one of his Fox
specials. It's totally lame. It's part camera tricks, part
editing, and all he really does is get on his tippy toes.
\_ What? You mean magic isn't real? You mean I'll never
learn to defy physics?
\_ What I'm saying, smartass, is that it would have
actually been cool if he did make some trick device
hidden in his shoe. But all the entire trick is
just lame camera tricks. Here's an URL showing just
how lame it is:
http://www.magiclearn.50megs.com/photo2.html
\_ Oooooh, anti-gravity shoes! yeah! that would
be cool. If I built some AG shoes I'd use them
in my magic act too.
just lame camera tricks. |
| 2003/10/20 [Computer/SW/OS/Linux] UID:10706 Activity:nil 80%like:29581 |
10/20 Any recommendations for colocation or dedicated hosting with debian?
\_ I always wondered why people care what distro they're using for
a server system. What's the difference? A server is a platform
for remote applications. It shouldn't matter what directory layout
exists below the application layer.
\_ heh, as if.
\_ Check http://www.webhostingtalk.com |
| 2003/10/20-21 [Finance, Recreation/Food, Computer/SW/Security] UID:10707 Activity:low |
10/20 Ever wonder why you get some much junk mail? It's because the United
States Postal Service encourages such practice!
http://www.usps.com/features/fourstepstodirectmail.htm
\_ of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations...
\_ Yeah, they're self supporting.
\_ poor trees.
\_ theyre grown on tree farms for the purpose. so of like your
\_ theyre grown on tree farms for the purpose. sort of like your
lunch.
\_ yes the forests of Canada, Madagascar and Burma
are one vast tree farm.
\_ yawn. no one is chopping trees in madagascar to get
paper to send you junk mail. it takes 50,000 trees
to print *each* edition of the sunday NYT. you think
they're stripping madagascar? no, it's all tree farm
trees raised for that purpose.
\_ poor cows.
\_ and poor wheat and corn and everything else grown for
us to murder and eat. |
| 3/15 |