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2009.04.16 05:05:
ket - another one bites the dust - i forgot to watch how they signed off - oh well - time to remove another channel from the schedule
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2009.04.16 05:07:
gotta remember that i can't catch rose in the later time slot anymore
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2009.04.16 05:07:
not hat it matters; cet will be gone in two weeks
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2009.04.16 05:09:
hey - since when did ket become cvn ? eh, whatever
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2009.04.16 17:58:
@craigg75
does orson scott card venture outside his Ender universe ever?
all the time; like, use amazon search, eh ? i've got a lot of his other books. common to all his series: the first book is best
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2009.04.16 18:01:
@craigg75
itlike most of his arguments it's based on semantics and not a lot of substance
rather, it's the other way around- i am arguing against the superficial semantics whereby people assume the label is the reality
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2009.04.16 18:02:
@craigg75 btw, the call of "semantics!" as a dismissal of any argument is pretty close to an ad hominem error in logic - ie, full of shit
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2009.04.16 18:04:
thing is, most (not all) so-called "atheists" are merely another brand of "religion", minus a few of the traditional trappings
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2009.04.16 18:05:
what i'm trying to do is dig to the underlying issues, which isn't the institutions, but the psycho-social phenomena from which they arise
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2009.04.16 18:06:
like racism, as long as we're still talking about it, it's a problem. too bad ignoring it doesn't make it go away, but that may be closer
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2009.04.16 18:07:
why does there need to be a label to describe what people aren't ? it's the abortion thing - a branding issue - but there is some reality
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2009.04.16 18:08:
words are tools. i guess if you have a hard time linking the words and their mis-uses and abuses to the realities they overlay - sure...
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2009.04.16 18:09:
.. dismiss what you don't understand as "semantics". for me, however, i know exactly what i'm getting at ...
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2009.04.16 18:10:
... so, until we come up with something better, "words" are what we stuck with.
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2009.04.16 18:11:
do not cast me in the same light as those who try to derive "truth" from language - i try to use language to describe "truth"
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2009.04.16 18:12:
substance: most atheists - most humans - are using the same mental equipment as theists - with the same results
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2009.04.16 18:14:
it's not the "god" concept that's the root of the problem - it's anyone who adopts the same attitude of special knowledge
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2009.04.16 18:18:
so sure - it's no-substance-me-thursday - yeah, i'm just a superficial airhead dancing in circles in my brain - second-favorite organ. etc.
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2009.04.16 18:24:
@craigg75
so if you choose not to believe that the FSM created you, does that make you irrational?
assumed need / desire / sense to "choose" anything ? such contructs have the reality they are given by us
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2009.04.16 18:29:
@jdhuntah, yes, but i'm insubstantial, haven't you heard ? perhaps the "brevity" is in the (lack of) underlying meaning...
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2009.04.16 18:32:
@craigg75
@
fractalnavel argues inside 140 characters :P .. something ironic considering the topic
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2009.04.16 18:43:
@klaatu
@
craigg75@
klaatu - I've never understood why @
fractalnavel includes atheism as another form of irrationality
@
fractalnavel If theism & atheism both R irrationality your really saying ALL is irrational & nothing is rational. All is Fugazzi
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2009.04.16 18:47:
question to ponder (only for us airheads, of course): if not god, what, then ?
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2009.04.16 18:49:
simply removing the appellation & the institutions does not address the underlying human mechanisms that these things are involved in
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2009.04.16 18:51:
and in fact, the danger may be greater in their absence (in the short run)
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2009.04.16 18:51:
the trick, as usual, is in the transition - nothing new there
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2009.04.16 18:55:
is the human brain (en masse) even capable of adopting a non-irrational state ?
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2009.04.16 18:57:
evolution to date may not have provided the basis for that; and it may or may not in the future
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2009.04.16 18:58:
so what, then, is a reasonable task to set ourselves in this regard ?
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2009.04.16 19:00:
people continue to want to harbor their cherished illusions - and often for good reason
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2009.04.16 19:02:
so, whether the fantasy is "self-determination" or "handed down from on high", little has changed
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2009.04.16 19:04:
i would like to merely laugh at these silly wars of ideas - but i share the same planet
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2009.04.16 19:09:
@craigg75
how many angels are you up to on that pinhead?
i'm sorry, were you counting ?
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2009.04.16 19:16:
@craigg75
42
yeah, y'know, that whole jackie robinson thing the other day kept triggering my HHGG memories - doug adams would have been amused
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2009.04.16 19:29:
@craigg75
card/ender - I figured he built his career out of his first book, thanks for the backup
@klaatu that was not his first book. i actually read a lot of his work before even running into the "ender" stuff
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2009.04.16 19:31:
http://tinyurl.com/2m9ote - while "ender" was interesting, it's probably not his best work
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2009.04.16 20:59:
@craigg75
I ate a hotdog, I gave somebody a dime, I waved at a fan, I'm so famous, please love me
new game: name that celeb based on their tweets
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2009.04.16 21:00:
@craigg75
@
klaatu I said it.. mistake, thought I read a blurb by him saying it was his first book
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2009.04.16 21:04:
card: the more i read about that guy, the less ilike about him. still, decent fiction, for the most part.
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2009.04.16 21:06:
his problem seems to be over-ambitiousness in his various series; his vision exceeds his skills just a bit
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2009.04.16 21:08:
ender series pluses: characterization, and he's come closest for me to having a believable development of ftl drive - still magic wand-y tho
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2009.04.16 21:09:
like any good sf author, card can come up with some interesting conceptual toys, and largely he knows how to play with them
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2009.04.16 21:11:
@craigg75 since you're "here", thought i'd ask - any reason for your server to be slow today ?
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2009.04.16 21:14:
pita - running ms update on four boxes, plus av updates on two, plus ...
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2009.04.16 21:15:
noticed i still have ie6 on one box, and ie7 on another
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2009.04.16 21:41:
@craigg75
our TFS computer is shooting craps again
i thought you had virtualized that ?
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2009.04.16 23:08:
@craigg75
@
fractalnavel they froze like a deer in headlights when we brought it up
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2009.04.16 23:11:
oh fer - cvrap. my sister's getting married in a trailer park. where did i put my holey jeans ?
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2009.04.16 23:34:
walden woods: http://tinyurl.com/waldenwoods - note the rv area. supposedly i'm staying there saturday night. uh - where ?!
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2009.04.16 23:36:
huh - why didn't anyone tell me we were rednecks ?
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2009.04.16 23:37:
[just looked around the house] - * oh...
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2009.04.17 03:48:
@jdhunt yeah, last yesr was cold & rainy. take the back roads, it's a nice drive
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2009.04.17 04:20:
@craigg75 @jdhunt does anyone have an actual reference to when i may have said anything about internet access as a utility ?
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2009.04.17 04:21:
i don't have a specific memory of such; and "utility" has different aspects in this context, not all of which are positive
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2009.04.17 04:22:
in the case of a critical resource, "utility" is insufficient - the positive aspect is that of regulating a vulnerable commons
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2009.04.17 04:23:
the negative, however, is exactly what twc is proposing
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2009.04.17 04:24:
that is a "utility", in the sense of pay-as-you-go. a flat rate makes more sense and may be more "progreive"
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2009.04.17 04:26:
cvrap - "progressive"
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2009.04.17 04:26:
however, that is not the function of a "utility"
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2009.04.17 04:27:
market competition may actually serve the general need better
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2009.04.17 04:28:
i think, however, that what you guys are thinking of is "subsidies"
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2009.04.17 04:29:
something in our culture has to sya 'enough is enough' with respect to further disenfranchising the already disenfranchised