| ||||||
| 2005/12/14-15 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Reference/Military] UID:41009 Activity:moderate |
12/13 Haha. McCain no-torture amendment says "Follow the Army Field Manual."
Pentagon changes field manual. Go Dubya!
\_ So do we have to have a three screen long flame war about the
definition of the word "lie" to say Rice was lying now? Or can
we just agree that she was lying right through her teeth by
any definition?
\_ ObThatDependsOnWhatTheDefinitionOfIsIs.
\_ It's a lie whatever we say is a lie.
\_ url?
\_ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/politics/14detain.html |
| 2005/12/14-15 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41010 Activity:low |
12/13 Remember the first time you saw a9 or google maps and said "WOW!"?
Here's something from Microsoft that's pretty cool as well. Go to
your favorite destination and then click on "Bird's Eye Imagery"
http://local.live.com
\_ when they get out of beta, it'll be cool. for now, it's godly
slow and chunky. google earth was there so much sooner, with
a much better product (go figure, eh?).
and it doesn't cover nearly enough cities.
\_ WOW, I didnt realize we had such a committed Microsoft
apologist here. It *is* so slow and clunky it is
unusable. And is this supposed to be useful or just
going for a "wow"? Google maps is useful, eventhough it
does list some strange search matches. A site that has
random aerial pictures is just a site that has random
aerial pictures. It isn't a useful mapping site.
\_ Dude, did you read the previous post? You both agree. |
| 2005/12/14-15 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:41012 Activity:nil |
12/14 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/orleans/program.html Video Expert (James?), which of the three, quicktime, real, or WindowsMedia tend to have best quality in the above URL link? thx \_ Beats me. Watch them and judge for yourself. --jameslin |
| 2005/12/14-16 [Reference/Religion] UID:41013 Activity:high |
12/14 Interesting maps of US religious distributions. I guess the
stereotypes are true.
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/geo/courses/geo200/religion.html
\_ I didn't realize the South was so Baptist. and so un-Catholic
too. The Mormon map was entertaining.
\_ You know, with the proper demogoguery, perhaps we could get
some regional religious strife going on, like between the
Southern Baptists and the Utah Mormons...
\_ There's been historic friction between precisely those two groups
for quite a while. It's in the last few years that it's been
decreasing. -emarkp
\_ Btw can you attempt to explain the Mormon view of Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost? Is it polytheism?
\_ We don't believe it's polytheism. We reject the "homoousia"
of the Nicene Creed though. And we don't get caught up in
the "filioque" issue that divides Western and Orthodox
churches. -emarkp
\_ You're too busy using your own Bible (BoM) and
inventing your own story of Jesus to worry about
minute details. If MAJOR issues like that exist
then why split hairs?
\_ /My/ Bible is the King James Version. The Book of
Mormon is an additional document, not a replacement.
I also like to use the NASB for study, and I've
learned a bit of Greek for NT reference--my personal
greek copy is a Nestle intralinear. -emarkp
\_ Not a replacement but, correct me if I am
wrong, considered authoritive when there are
conflicts. In that aspect it is a replacement in
the same way the New Testament replaces the Old
Testament. No one else accepts the BofM except
Mormons, which is *THE* issue. What does arguing
minutiae matter at that point? It's like
comparing the Muslim Christ with the Christian
one. The bigger issue is that Mohammed guy.
\_ Consider yourself corrected. Where the BoM
disagrees with extra-Biblical tradition, it is
authoritative. The Bible has passages that
contradict itself, yet that doesn't nullify the
Bible. Yes, only LDS and its offshoots accept
the BoM as scripture--so what? Your claim of
the BoM being "our own" Bible is false. Thanks
for playing. -emarkp
\_ So what about the last part in
Revelation where it claims the Bible to be
final and complete? How does BoM fit into
that? Here are some others:
http://www.bibletruths.net/archives/BTAR002.htm
http://www.bibletruths.net/archives/BTAROO2.htm
\_ "This page cannot be found." Hahaha!
\_ Fixed.
\_ Wow, a whole list of canards. I'll go
ahead and respond to the one you list.
You know revelation was written BEFORE
John's gospel and his epistles? Not
only that, but you know the Bible
wasn't compiled for > 200 years after
John wrote that? Obviously it doesn't
mean what you think it means, or half
the bible would be invalid too.
\_ I'm so moving to Oregon.
\_ You know, religion != scary.
\_ Try telling that to <fill-in-the-victims>.
\_ Yeah, that's as profound and insightful as a bumper
sticker. In other words, not.
\_ Yeah, that's as profound and insightful as a bumper
sticker. In other words, not.
\_ Being surrounded by people who believe that their fate rests
in the hands of an imaginary all-powerful being, consider it
their duty to make sure you believe in the exact same version
of this entity, and for whom this belief dictates their
choice of who should run this country and how... yes, it is
scary.
\_ Well, you're talking about Iran, not the US. 1) your
assertion that the being is imaginary is not indisputed
fact, 2) it's pretty much only Islam that feels it's their
duty to "make sure you believe" exactly the same thing.
Most Christians believe it's important to share what they
believe and urge you to consider it, but not force you to
agree. -emarkp
\_ Replace "Most" with "Some" and you're right. --PM
\_ No, I think it's "most". -emarkp
\_ Yeah, I think this is probably correct. In my
(admittedly limited and biased) experience, most
of the religious people I've met rarely mention
god unless I've brought up the topic. That doesn't
mean there aren't some truly scary christian
freaknuts in every denomination who tend to really
squick out non-religious people disproportionately
to their numbers.... -mice
\_ The Evangelical faction of Christianity holds power at
the moment. You understand what "Evangelical" means,
right? Hint: definition #4 in dict. And as for
"disputed" Uh, everything's disputed. 5-year-olds
will dispute the non-existence of the Easter Bunny.
\_ Yes, it means evangelize. Which means sharing their
beliefs and urging others to accept them. It doesn't
mean forcing, etc. -emarkp
\_ So changing local laws to make things in the 10
commandments illegal isn't forcing? The huge
pro-life lobby isn't forcing the rest of
America to share its views?
\_ bad troll. no cookie.
\_ Why is that a troll? The guy actually
raises a valid example of religious people
attacking rights from a perspective
almost strictly based on their religious
beliefs. (perhaps better exmples could
have been fielded, but the point
exemplified is still valid). -mice
\_ The 10 Commandments are a big part of the
foundation of western civilization.
\_ yeah, that's why you never see
graven images around here.
(You have no clue.) -tom
\_ They are no part of it. Western
civilization goes back to the
Greeks and Romans. They somehow
managed to get things done without
those commandments.
\_ Where's ilyas to tell us they had
"Christian values"?
\_ Please cite examples of anyone trying
to force the 10 commandments into law.
I've never heard of anyone trying to put
1-5,10 into modern law. 6,8, and 9, ARE in
modern law (for good reason). The only
case I can see an argument on is 7.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
\_ I'm trying to track exactly who first said
"forcing", oh right. That was you.
\_ I responded to "their duty to /make sure/ you
believe..." -- sounds like forcing to me.
-emarkp
\_ IMO, there's a problem when "sharing and
urging" drifts into "legislating" and
"religiously motivated legislation". At
that point, religion becomes intrusive and
not very respectful of rights and differing
belief systems. -mice (!pp)
\_ I have yet to see that drift, with the
possible exception of ID. -emarkp
\_ How about Reagan's Secretary of the
Interior, whose policies were based
around the idea that we didn't need
to protect the environment because
the rapture was coming. Delusions
endorsed by religion _are_ dangerous
to political policy.
\_ According to him, that's not true.
See http://csua.org/u/eba
-emarkp
\_ "'Voice of God' revealed to be
Cheney on the oval office
intercom"
\_ You don't think a belief that invading
Iraq is a realization of passages
from Revelations played into the
extreme right-wing agenda for the
middle-east?
\_ Nope. -emarkp
\_ Christians to this day persecute and harass gays.
Until very recently, gays were imprisoned for
being gay. This is religious persecution.
\_ emarkp. just a friendly reminder that Muslim only
turned radical when we created Israel. Don't tell
me our unlaterial, unconditional support of Israel
has nothing to do with religion. In this regard,
radical islamic movement is a result, not cause of
US/UK policies.
\_ whoa! someone desperately needs a history of islam
book for christmas!
\_ I disagree with your assessment of history. Radical
(kill all who disagree) Islam has existed for over
1000 years. -emarkp
\_ i.e. half as long as Radical (kill all who disagree)
Christianity.
\_ i.e. half as long as Radical (kill all who
disagree) Christianity.
\_ Most of Christianity has become civilized
in the last century or so.
\_ ^century^800 years
\_ When did the 30 years war end?
\_ Germany was a Christian nation during WW2
\_ So were America and UK. OTOH Hitler
preferred Nordic tribal religions.
\_ Nah, they have been violent since the foundation
of Islam. They just didn't bother the US until
we started meddling in their business.
we started meddling in their business. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1536289/posts -jblack |
| 2005/12/14-15 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Others, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iran] UID:41014 Activity:low |
12/14 Following up on an earlier thread... "Iran President: Holocaust is
a 'Myth'" http://csua.org/u/eb0
\_ in other news, aliens land in Terran
\_ Soon they'll land in Protoss and Zerg |
| 2005/12/14-15 [Politics/Domestic/California] UID:41015 Activity:moderate |
12/14 Hypothetical: You're an Iranian thug who just drove a few zillion
fake ballots over the Iraqi border. How are you going to get them
into the vote count somewhere in sufficient quantities that it shifts
the election but not so many that it causes enough suspicion to get
your bogus votes thrown out?
\_ Dump them in Chicago (an official Iraqi polling place in the US).
All good democracies believe every vote from Chicago.
\_ Nah, do it like this: First get a polical ally to build the
electronic ballot boxes. Eliminate any voting paper trail,
and finally make it illegal to ask for a recount (like the
GOP is doing in Ohio!)
\_ why do republicans hate democracy?
\_ a fundamentalist Christian govt would get the word
of Jesus to everyone more efficiently
\_ I still have to wonder why an all-powerful god needs
help getting His message out. Oh, yeah, because
it's a fucking bullshit fairytale.
\_ You seem to have some serious lack of clue about
religious/christian ideology. There's this little
concept called 'free will'.... As an agnostic, I'm
hardly an apologist for any religious system, but
at least get some clue before spewing vitriol like
a recent high school grad.
\_ free will is incompatible with ominiscience.
\_ Get Jimmy Carter to certify the vote?
\_ Just burn a shi'ite vote for every fake sunni vote you toss in
\_ That's okay. We had no problem with 99% votes in the referendum
a couple months ago in Iraq. |
| 2005/12/14-15 [Uncategorized] UID:41016 Activity:nil |
12/14 Free Mr. Tookie!
\_ Am I the only person who has no idea what the fuck all this Tookie
stuff is about?
\_ No, you're unlikely to be the only person who lives under a rock.
\_ This, Sir, is an ex-Tookie!
\_ Shall we launch him from a canon?
\_ Was this an intentional typo? |
| 2005/12/14-16 [Recreation/Travel/LasVegas, Consumer/TV] UID:41017 Activity:moderate |
12/14 What are your favorite shows on TV these days?
\_ Mythbusters: ..
\_ ditto
\_ great show for the geek in all of us.
\_ 24 on DVD .
\_ 4400
\_ SG-1: ..
\_ SG Atlantis: ..
\_ Battlestar Galactica (the new remake): .
\_ West Wing: ...
\_ Simpsons: ...
\_ Malcolm: .
\_ LOST: .
\_ Lost: ..
\_ Family Guy (not as good as prior seasons, but still entertaining)
\_ count me in.
\_ Arrested Development: ...
\_ House
\_ Las Vegas
\_ Nova: ..
\_ Frontline: ..
\_ Smallville: .
\_ Prison Break!!
\_ Every Day Italian (Giada is hot!)
\_ I answered west wing, but I must give my support for her hotness.
\_ You can vote for more than one b/c it says "shows"
\_ She is hotter in her new show, Behind the Bash
\_ The Daily Show: .
\_ The Amazing Race: .
\_ Grey's Anatomy: .
\_ My Name is Earl: . |
| 2005/12/14-16 [Finance/Investment] UID:41018 Activity:low |
12/14 anyone have ameritrade? should i store my cash in the
reserve fund (money market) while i am not trading?
\_ I do. I figure a percent or 2 of growth is better than nothing.
I noticed on a couple occasions the money market *lost* small
amounts of money but Ameritrade gave me a 'gift' to cover the loss.
\_ can you buy stocks fast with it being in the money market acct?
\_ Yes, it just makes you have negative cash until they transfer
money out of reserve at the end of the day.
\_ do they charge $35 if you take out cash before 90 days?
\_ where do you specify whether to store cash in the
reserve fund? I can't find it anywhere on the account
website.
\_it's on your home page.. enroll in reserve... righthandside
\_ I think it's only available for IRA accounts. Are you
using an IRA account?
\_ yeah.. it's only in my ira accts.
\_ I've had ameritrade for several years (ever since they bought
ndb). I normally keep my cash in the reserve fund b/c it gives
a decent return. |
| 2005/12/14-16 [Uncategorized] UID:41019 Activity:nil |
12/14 anywhere there are cool christmas lights to drive by and see?
\_ Yes. |
| 2005/12/14-16 [Politics/Domestic/Crime, Politics/Domestic/RepublicanMedia] UID:41020 Activity:kinda low |
12/14 I just saw a link posted on http://crooksandliars.com and I thought I'd ask motd about it: http://csua.org/u/ebc Mostly I was just wondering if people supported hate crimes legislation. I'm very much a liberal, but there seems to be something silly about punishing people differently based upon what was in their head when they committed the crime. Really, is one murder different than another? Do we want to punish people for what they think? \_ I am an ultra liberal, but in this regard, I don't buy this 'intent' logic. Let say if a guy raped a woman. His defense could be something like he was drunk at the time and thus get a less severe penalty. WTF? we are rewarding people who are not responsible for their actions? \_ Uh.. How exactly does your example relate to the discussion? \_ Well intent does matter in determining whether some acts are a crime or not, but I agree that it's pretty silly and basically amounts to extra crimininization because of the offender's politics. -another liberal \_ I think that using intent to punish people different for the same effect does make sense in most cases. A person who plans out a effect does make sense in many cases. A person who plans out a crime and executes it may pose a greater threat to society as a whole vs. the person who gets caught up in the heat of the moment and overreacts. Almost anyone can misjudge a situation and overreact, while few sit around and plan crimes. The fact someone overreacted once doesn't necessarily imply that they would do so again (though it is suggestive of this; hence the need for incarceration and post release monitoring). The effectiveness of incarceration as a means of correction on those who act w/o a plan may be greater b/c many of them feel regret over their actions and may take steps to prevent the recu- rrence of a similar action. rrence of a similar situation. In addition, the person who gets caught up in the heat of the mo- ment might have made a mistake re the need to defend themselves or others, so they could have a partial (or complete) excuse. This is generally not the case with those who execute a pre-existing plan. [ In the context of hate crime legislation - I think that the existing law are sufficient to punish hate criminals, so I don't really see the need to pass these law. I think that many of them will get passed b/c legislators don't want to look insensitive ] existing laws are sufficient to punish hate criminals, so I don't really see the need to pass new laws. I think that many of them will get passed anyway b/c legislators don't want to look insensitive. ] |
| 2005/12/14-16 [Finance/Investment] UID:41021 Activity:high |
12/14 "ILF up 66%, BZF up 74%, EWY up 44%, CEE up 64%. But I only hold
about 10% in each. You are holding too much risk with an
undiversified portfolio like that for my taste."
\_ That's impressive, nice returns betting on different regions.
How do you plan on investing in 2006?
\_ Thanks, I only posted the best ones though. There is an EWG up 9%,
and a bad bet on CPN bonds (lost 50% so far) that bring the
overall return down to about 30%. I am still working on my
end of year adjustments, but I will certainly hold the above,
to start with. I try not to sell winners, but in CEE's
case it went up so much I had to sell half of it to avoid
overbalancing my portfolio. I moved the proceeds into EEM.
Recent purchases include TKF and PCU, a copper miner. I am
probably going to reduce my overseas allocation from 70%
\_ Thanks, I only posted the best ones though. There is an EWG
up 9%, and a bad bet on CPN bonds (lost 50% so far) that
bring the overall return down to about 30%. I am still work-
ing on my end of year adjustments, but I will certainly hold
the above, to start with. I try not to sell winners, but in
CEE's case it went up so much I had to sell half of it to
avoid overbalancing my portfolio. I moved the proceeds into
EEM. Recent purchases include TKF and PCU, a copper miner.
I am probably going to reduce my overseas allocation from 70%
back down to 50%, but other than that, I haven't figured it
out yet. Any suggestions?
\_ Funny how the motd financial gurus only post their winners
and the biggest ones at that and everyone has large double
digit gains in everything. It feels like 1998 all over
again everyday on the motd.
\_ 30% yearly gain is nothing to sneeze at.
\_ This is true. My gain is 20%/year over the last 5-6
years but there were down times in there as well. I'm
not picking on this person in particular, more the
general batch of "I'm a guru! I got lucky on these
3 stocks! Don't look at the losses under the rug..."
people posting here.
\_ 20% per year is impressive, especially given that
your 5-6 years included 2000 to late 2002. I
have a 35% annual gain since late 2002, which
was when I got out of the post internet bubble
stock investment funk. I definitely lost money
from 2000 till 2002. Luckily I didn't have
too much money then.
your 5-6 years included 2000 to late 2002.
\_ Like I said, there were some down times. I bought
in while the market was still dropping so I was at
a loss for a while but now I'm well above. My
only regret was not trusting myself and getting
scared and not buying more at one key point where
I had my finger on the "buy" button but chickened
out. That was the low point. Oh well. I did ok.
\_ I missed Korea entirely. What prompted you to pick Korea
(EWY)? I have EUROX, but it was trounced by your CEE in
the past year, even though it had good long term
performance and has been slightly less volatile.
I know little about Turkey. What's your reasons for
buying it? When is it joining the EU?
\_ About three years ago, I decided that China was the
real growth engine of the world, but I don't want to
buy Red Chinese stocks for obvious reasons. So I decided
to buy stocks in the nations that I thought would benefit
from China's rise, including most of its neighbors: EWH,
EWS, EWY and TTF (later sold when the Thai economy went
into a recession). CEE is very heavy on Russian oil and
into a funk). CEE is very heavy on Russian oil and
gas producers, so be careful with it. I bought Turkey
mostly because The Economist keeps saying good things
about the Turkish economy and chances for EU admission.
They still have a bunch of hurdles to jump, but it looks
like 2012 or so for Turkey.
\_ I bought some EWJ (japan) and also had MJFOX
\_ I have bought some EWJ (japan) and also had MJFOX
(japan) since late 2003. Everyone is saying buy
Japan. What do you think? The other thing I've
been looking at is blue chip US companies. So
far, I've bought just GE though. You don't like
India? Totally missed the 20% semiconductor
run up recently. Thanks for the Turkey tip. I
will definitely look at that.
\_ I have a bit of Japan, will probably sell some
emerging market and move into it and SPX when
I rebalance. The US economy has all the same
problems it had three years ago, but at least
the valuations are looking more reasonable. I
guess I should buy some IFN, but I missed the
big runup and hate buying high. Any other
good ways to get into India? |
| 2005/12/14-16 [Computer/SW] UID:41022 Activity:nil |
12/14 I want to open up an investment account for my 1 year old niece
and put money in it every year and run it with her as the
owner. Any suggestions?
\_ There is something called a UTMA (other states have similar) where
it is an account in the name of a minor, but under the custodian-
ship of an adult. The kid may have to pay taxes on investment gains
but I think it's basically what you're looking for. |
| 2005/12/14-16 [Uncategorized] UID:41023 Activity:nil |
12/14 Dvinsk Clan's "Le Parkour" (from a few days ago) in higher quality:
link:tinyurl.com/d2mgo (urban.zen.praktik.ru - 41MB WMV) |
| 7/11 |