[FairfieldLife] Re: Straigtening Sal Out
--- wrote : It's wrong, ain't it sal, just plain wrong, for someone to hold an opinion contrary to your own. maybe you need to circulate more. Now what the fuck are YOU talking about? It's like being in a parallel universe with you lot sometimes. What Willytex wrote is not even remotely related to what I said. He isn't just holding a contrary opinion he's saying any old rubbish that comes into his head just for the sake of wasting the time of anyone dumb enough to read it. It's called trolling. What pleasure he gets out of it is anyone's guess. If he had a contrary opinion that was well reasoned I wouldn't mind hearing it but he hasn't. I say one thing, he says blah blah whatever go figure. It's him wasting his time. I don't give a damn. "There is no democracy in physics. We can't say that some second-rate guy has as much right to opinion as Fermi." ~Luis Walter Alvarez "Whoever is careless with truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs." ~ Albert Einstein By the way, I remember talking to you more than 8 years ago. But, I am not sure that was it's on this forum or another forum.
[FairfieldLife] The Buddha answers to the Deva
The Buddha answers to the Deva On a certain day when the Buddha dwelt at Jetavana, the garden of Anathapindika, a celestial deva came to him in the shape of a Brahman enlightened and wearing clothing as white as snow. The deva asked, What is the sharpest sword? What is the deadliest poison? What is the fiercest fire? What is the darkest night?" The Buddha replied, The sharpest sword is a word spoken in wrath; the deadliest poison is covetousness; the fiercest fire is hatred; the darkest night is ignorance. The deva said, What is the greatest gain? What is the greatest loss? Which armour is invulnerable? What is the best weapon? The Buddha replied, The greatest gain is to give to others; the greatest loss is to greedily receive without gratitude; an invulnerable armor is patience; the best weapon is wisdom. The deva said, Who is the most dangerous thief? What is the most precious treasure? Who can capture the heavens and the earth? Where is the securest treasure-trove? The Buddha replied, The most dangerous thief is unwholesome thought; the most precious treasure is virtue; the heavens and the earth may be captured by the mind's eye; surpassing rebirth locates the securest treasure-trove. The deva asked, What is attraction? What is repulsion? What is the most horrible pain? What is the greatest enjoyment? The Buddha replied, Attraction is wholeness; repulsion is unwholesomeness; the most tormenting pain is bad conscience; the height of bliss is redeemed awakening. The deva asked, What causes ruin in the world? What breaks off friendships? What is the most violent fever? Who is the best physician?" The Buddha replied, Ruin in the world is caused by ignorance; friendships are broken off by envy and selfishness; the most violent fever is hatred; the best physician is the enlightened one; The deva continued, Now I have only one doubt to resolve and absolve: What is it fire cannot burn, nor moisture corrode, nor wind crush down, but is able to enlighten the whole world. The Buddha replied, Blessing! Neither fire, nor moisture, nor wind can destroy the blessing of good deeds, and blessings enlighten the whole world. Hearing these answers, the deva was overflowing with joy. Then clasping hands, bowed down in respect and disappeared suddenly from the presence of the Buddha.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Straigtening Sal Out
I think it was more than 10 years ago. I was a 30 year old kid. I think it was on another forum. My memory has become hazy. Maybe salyavin might remember it. --- wrote : can you elaborate? --- wrote : By the way, I remember talking to you more than 8 years ago. But, I am not sure that was it's on this forum or another forum.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Straigtening Sal Out
On 11/5/2014 6:40 PM, steve.sundur@... mailto:steve.sundur@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Jesus Christ, what's going on here. You responded to something I said! Now, I'm on the spot. Look, there are times, when I can't figure out why Richard insists on posting what appear to be complete fabrications. > --- wrote : Not a totally complete exaggeration: "Suffice it to say that over an extended number of years I witnessed almost every siddhi described by Patanjali and quite a few that were not." - Barry Wright https://groups.google.com/d/topic/alt.meditation.transcendental/UcdGW9pnVpI/discussion https://groups.google.com/d/topic/alt.meditation.transcendental/UcdGW9pnVpI/discussion > "I DON'T KNOW THE "TRUTH." I DON'T EVEN BELIEVE THERE IS SUCH A THING. THE ONLY THING I HAVE IS THE OCCASIONAL SHORT- LIVED OPINION. YOU CAN HAVE A DIFFERENT ONE, AND IT'S NO SWEAT OFF MY BALLS. YOUR OPINION IS JUST AS "GOOD" AND JUST AS "VALID" AS MINE, AND *NEITHER* OF THEM HAS ANYTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH "TRUTH." ~ Uncle Tantra 137510 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/137510 And sure, I would take exception to them, and would find them extremely annoying if I were on the receiving end of them, which I think I have been on occasion. But there are times, many times in fact, when I find him kknkowledgeable and very entertaining, and it appears others do as well, including Ann, in that instance. That was the gist of my comment. And for the record, when the discussion turns to details of Vedic or Buddhist stuff, about which he banters with others here, I generally don't have a clue. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:steve.sundur@... wrote : It's wrong, ain't it sal, just plain wrong, for someone to hold an opinion contrary to your own. maybe you need to circulate more. Now what the fuck are YOU talking about? It's like being in a parallel universe with you lot sometimes. What Willytex wrote is not even remotely related to what I said. He isn't just holding a contrary opinion he's saying any old rubbish that comes into his head just for the sake of wasting the time of anyone dumb enough to read it. It's called trolling. What pleasure he gets out of it is anyone's guess. If he had a contrary opinion that was well reasoned I wouldn't mind hearing it but he hasn't. I say one thing, he says blah blah whatever go figure. It's him wasting his time. I don't give a damn.
[FairfieldLife] Re: There may be a God after all... :-)
I wonder who is this? https://twitter.com/TheWolfieSmith https://twitter.com/TheWolfieSmith https://twitter.com/TheWolfieSmith https://twitter.com/TheWolfieSmith --- wrote : Here's part of it Barry. The other day, I thought to look at people's face book pages, that I had never looked at before. I saw yours and I saw Richards. On yours, there was a link. Just a one click link which then went to a bunch of pictures. And I noticed that those current pictures of you looked nothing like the picture you have of yourself posted on FFL, and truthfully, I felt a little sorry for ya, and just haven't been able to muster the usual annoyance to comment on the daily dumps you make on people here. I am sure that will change but right now, just can't do it. Now, go ahead into your usual faux outrage about imaginary stalking. This is what you show to the world, dude. Oh, and I guess that carried over to Michael, to some extent. He lives in a strange world. The world of the past, filled with all the old press releases of MMY, and the TMO. How can you really come down on a guy who seems to live for that? That will probably change for me too. (-: --- wrote : I just noticed that the folders I created in Yahoo Mail to store unread posts from the people actively stalking me -- Ann, Jim, Steve, and Richard -- were surprisingly empty. Maybe they've actually stopped posting their crap, I thought, so I checked the Post Count post and it shows that Richard is still the verbal diarrhea king and that the others still seem to be posting as much as always. So then I scrolled through the list of incoming posts on the Yahoo Groups reader (Neo), and their stuff seems to still be appearing there, too. It's just not getting to Yahoo Mail. Go figure. I'm just posting this to see whether Xeno (who created similar macros) or anyone else has noticed anomalies like this, creating a difference between what arrives on the FFL website and thus is visible in the Yahoo Groups reader (Neo), and what arrives in your email feed. Whatever the cause, color me properly grateful. Whether it's God saving my macros from having to route posts from these four to a trash folder that I then have to empty from time to time unread, or some other cause, it's All Good. Praise the Lawd! If it's really the work of God, I may even contribute to a Maharishi™ yagya just to thank the dude for his efforts, and for having the same taste in who to throw in the trash bin that I do. :-) :-) :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: More American Stupidity
Mike, the problem is not capitalism. It's crass consumerism or hyper-consumerism as some would call it. It leads to voracious unsustainable consumption of resources. In fact, this problem existed even in ancient times, a lot of ancient civilisations collapsed due to rampant tree cutting and ecological degradation. It soon became unsustainable. This is exactly the reason, the entire taxation methodology must be changed. Taxation should be based on consumption and not on income. For instance, if you earn 20,000 $ a month but spend only 2,000 $ out of that. You put the rest 18,000$ in bank. You should be taxed only for that 2,000 $ you spent. The interest rate in banks are artificially low. Some incentive should be given to people to save money in banks. --- wrote : Capitalism is the best system for the disabled, sick and old age. Wealth is created abundantly by capitalism which can be taxed and provide a safety net. People can also provide for themselves better and the smart ones save for their future.. Most, if not all, union pension plans are heavily invested in capitalism which pays their member benefits. Ask the people of the former Soviet Union and China if they prefer capitalism or old Soviet central planning with Socialism. Governments don't generate wealth, they just take it away and redistribute it. Free enterprise generates wealth. Ask any rich person or person aspiring to be rich. With an abundance of wealth, good things can be done and planned for. The Soviet Union couldn't clean up they environmental messes they created. So we all end up like the Soviet Union and pre-capitalist China. Plenty of nothing to go around for everybody. Did you ever see or hear about the Soviet era enviornment? Plenty of mess to clean up but no money to do it. But then we will *make* them do it... for mother Russia! From: "Bhairitu noozguru@... [FairfieldLife]" Capitalism is like candy and the rich like spoiled kids. They just want more and more candy. Hence they get fat and cranky and want their way all the time. What we need to do is take away their candy from them and let them dry out. Otherwise they become a complete drag on society. Free enterprise is not a bad idea about capitalism run amok is very dangerous. Sometimes you just have to shut things down and spank the miscreants.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Good article by someone with more patience for theists than I have...
--- wrote : Excellent rap, Salyavin. Nothing I can add to this. But I do have to ask about something you said: "It's just shame that atheism offers no afterlife in paradise to make up for the biggest draw religions have!" It's dangerous to go to paradise because "an ever-erect penis" will result in permanent damage to penis. Technicaly and medicaly you can die of blueballs. Any erection that lasts for more than 3 hours is dangerous and allopathic doctor should be consulted. "Everyone that God admits into paradise will be married to 72 wives. All of them will have libidinous sex organs and he will have an ever-erect penis." ~ Sunan Ibn Majah, Zuhd 39 "Each time we sleep with a Houri we find her virgin. Besides, the penis of the Elected never softens. The erection is eternal." ~ Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur'an, p. 351 Abu al-Fida (1273 – 1331 AD) was a Muslim geographer and historian. He relates that Prophet Muhammad suffered from a death erection. Ali ibn Abi alib, the fourth rightly-guided Caliph of Islam (and also Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin) washed his body after his death, and had exclaimed, "O prophet, thy penis is erect unto the sky!" ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Ok, if it doesn't matter whether or not there's a God, then a genuinely interesting question is: why do people go on and on about it? What is really going on in all these supposedly intellectual conversations? What are people really attempting to accomplish by such posts and exchanges? From: salyavin808 I'll have a go at answering that one. It doesn't really matter what people believe as everyone usually just gets on with everyone else, nobody really judges people on what they believe - how they behave is the important thing. After 9/11 Richard Dawkins thought that maybe it was time that we all sat down and had a good long metaphysical look at ourselves and whether we should be abandoning old ways of thinking if they are going to lead to fundamentalism and skewed morals and all the endless hideous stories we hear from round the world about FGM and witchcraft trials and the pathetic excuses made by successive popes about institutional child abuse. And that's not even mentioning the mental pollution of religious schools filling young brains with unproven rubbish. It's time for a change perhaps, the idea is that we can perhaps decide a rational way of ordering societies and how to educate children with the baggage of iron age superstitions.Maybe we, as a race, could grow out of backward thinking, blind faith and gullibility. Maybe we'd just be better off without all the mistakes of the past holding us back, surely we can do better than relying on so-called received knowledge from iron age gods? I think it's been a great debate and long may it continue, anything that makes people think about themselves is a good thing. Shame nothing has changed really, but the cards are on the table and maybe the mad fundies will start to question themselves if more people question them? I doubt it, they all seem to be getting more entrenched. The trouble I see is that you can't reason somebody out of something they weren't reasoned into. Dawkins thought that religion was like any other system of thought, that it will be replaced by a logically superior one if it came along. But religion is deeper than that, it's a thing of the heart and not of the brain. Especially if you are brought up in a faith, it's like the first language you learn, an intractable part of how your brain works and the first thing you'll turn to. It's an emotion that we try to justify intellectually. I think it's good to provide alternatives in case people discover they like asking questions and don't mind where the answers take them. It's just shame that atheism offers no afterlife in paradise to make up for the biggest draw religions have! That's probably what stops a lot of potential converts. Darwin should have thought of that. But he still wouldn't fool anyone because if you care about knowledge you still have to follow where the discovery of objective knowledge takes you. Or you stay with your beliefs like most people do. Or become a TM scientist and pretend that the pursuit of truth has taken you back to a position of god creating and running everything. Of course, many religions have started using the language of science to argue against scientific discoveries, I always read The Watchtower and am amazed at the ingenuity of believers trying to fool the unwary with sciencey articles disproving evolution. Should be laws against it, but that is a topic for another thread. From: "TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 5:24 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Good article by someone with more patience for theists than I have... One of the reasons I speak in such a derogatory way about
[FairfieldLife] Re: Good article by someone with more patience for theists than I have...
--- wrote : Re "But every so often, it's probably good to present the point of view of a more balanced atheist.": This "Cephus" is just setting up a straw man; then knocking him down and feeling pleased with himself. Just take a look at Richard Dawkins debating with the (former) Archbishop of Canterbury at Oxford University. You may or may not think that Dawkins has the better of Rowan Williams but Williams is clearly *not* stupid and doesn't employ any of the ten "statements" that Cephus castigates. One issue that strikes me about the difference between Barry and myself is that he's American; I'm English. And what kind of difference would that be? Well, in the USA, religion (including fundamentalist versions) is big - indeed it's big business. In the UK, religion is now marginal. It conjures up images of well-meaning but ineffectual Anglican vicars with little input into current societal changes. To me religion is harmless - rather sweet perhaps. Your statement is inherently absurd. Please maintain the distinction between Religion and Spiritualism. Religion is like a banana skin, spiritualism is the banana. Dogmatic, under-developed religions can be harmful. Generations of women suffered from guilt complex due to christian genesis story. To Barry the mention of "religion" triggers memories of some unresolved trauma from his childhood or adolescence. To Barry it's all about visceral emotion; to me it's all about sweet reason and nuanced reflection. Here's Dawkins/Williams in civilized debate . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq2f5TA2nCs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq2f5TA2nCs
[FairfieldLife] Re: Apologies...
Raunchy, I agree that Barry is a degenerate filth and a rotten piece of shit. But, he cleverly worded his statement in such a way that it would seem to general readers, that true blue believers would condone such an act (whether by maharishi or anyone else). In other words, he seems to be implying that true believers are perverts or fools, as they would condone such an act. I think this provoked Jim and Ann. --- wrote : Geez, Barry. I thought you were joking about abusing babies just to push buttons of imaginary cult members the same as I am pushing your buttons about being a pervert. Abusing babies...wow! That was a real knee slapper, still ROTFLMAO. Pleeezze...call off the cops and I’ll never to make fun of you being a harmless little bunny again. Holy Grail - Killer Bunny http://youtu.be/XcxKIJTb3Hg http://youtu.be/XcxKIJTb3Hg Holy Grail - Killer Bunny http://youtu.be/XcxKIJTb3Hg A clip from Monty Python's 'The Holy Grail' Also: http://www.youtub... View on youtu.be http://youtu.be/XcxKIJTb3Hg Preview by Yahoo All schools in the Dutch city of Leiden closed on Monday amid police concerns that an internet troll had been stalking an alleged child molester suspected of abusing babies. Police are investigating the accusation of child molestation and have responded by advising all schools to stay closed for the day. Leiden Mayor Henri Lenferink told Dutch broadcaster NOS: “It could just be a morbid joke but we don’t want to take any risk.” The police have issued warrants for the arrest of both the stalker and the pervert. Due to crowded jail conditions, it is likely they will share a bunk in the slammer until they can post bail. Dutch schools closed in Leiden over online mass shooting threats | BelleNews.com http://www.bellenews.com/2013/04/22/world/europe-news/leiden-schools-closed-over-online-mass-shooting-threats-in-the-netherlands/ http://www.bellenews.com/2013/04/22/world/europe-news/leiden-schools-closed-over-online-mass-shooting-threats-in-the-netherlands/ Dutch schools closed in Leiden over online mass shooting t... http://www.bellenews.com/2013/04/22/world/europe-news/leiden-schools-closed-over-online-mass-shooting-threats-in-the-netherlands/ Home Breaking News Dutch schools closed in Leiden over online mass... View on www.bellenews.com http://www.bellenews.com/2013/04/22/world/europe-news/leiden-schools-closed-over-online-mass-shooting-threats-in-the-netherlands/ Preview by Yahoo --- wrote : You have continued to see the world as your addled mind allows you to, bawee. You have completely missed the point. The point is, take responsibility for yourself, for once. Take responsibility for the fact that you are, plain and simple, a vile and obnoxious asshole who hides behind your imaginary (or real, it doesn't matter) investigative journalist who appears brain damaged if he is bothering to "study" what is already crystal clear here among the posters at FFL or else brain damaged because he has not yet caught on. His button pusher is a stooge and the rest of us are normal, well-adjusted humans who take exception to your bad manners and foul mouth. Simple. Got that mr or mr lurking reporter? How long does it take you to figure this out? Months, years? When are you going to grow up, Wright? Adults look at themselves once in a while and reflect on what they do and say. They take ownership of their actions. This has dick-all to do with MMY. You need to figure out what cultist means, that might help for a start. If it makes you feel any better, I'll claim ownership of being the Queen Cultist. There, better? --- wrote : We warned this guy years ago about posting these kind of messages - a double-edged sword. Anyone that has been posting as long as Barry (since 1994) has been posting should know better. Anything can be taken out of context so it's just much better to be friendly online and reserve off-color comments for buddies at the bar. This was really dumb of Barry - in fact, it's one of the dumbest comments I've ever seen on newsgroups since I started in 1999. If I was the moderator of this group I'd put him on probation with a very strong warning and demand an apology to the entire group and until he does I'd limit his participation. This was TOTALLY inappropriate for a family forum like this.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Apologies...
Dude, you are acting exactly like danfriedman2002 here. You make a stupid, dumbshit statement on a forum which you are well aware, that it has abnormal members. Your statement also indirectly suggested that they would condone or overlook such a perversion. You case is a little shaky. What will you do if TMO slaps a lawsuit on you for libeling MMY and the believers? --- wrote : Nablus, I suggest that you drop this, because YOUR name, email address, and posting history here on the Fairfield Life group are now in the possession of the Dutch police. I tried to warn you earlier that this country takes a very hard line with people who attempt to harm others' reputations through malicious slander and cyberstalking, but obviously you weren't listening. You should listen now, because if you persist I will have no choice but to file formal criminal charges against you. From: nablusoss1008 Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2014 1:22 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Apologies... Who knows how many have unsubscribed. Rick Archer has not yet had the balls to booth the "butt-fucking-babies" member. Meanwhile we'll se what the Leiden Police choose to do as searching his computers for child porn is too late, he had all Thursday night to get rid of everything. Have the child he is "looking after" taken in for a medical examination perhaps.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Apologies...
You didn't post here after the neo format? Make sure you click the 'show message' tab below after you click the reply button. --- wrote : Nope. Folks didn't react to Barry because they were offended as "true believers." They were offended as human beings repulsed by the vile image of child abuse he invoked.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Moderating The Peep Show
Allowing Buck to moderate is a bad idea. He dishes out the same Kool-Aid. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GfG0ofh8-MM/VXQ-eaKldPI/A_A/SKumQYyjUYs/s910/Kool_Aid_1956.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GfG0ofh8-MM/VXQ-eaKldPI/A_A/SKumQYyjUYs/s910/Kool_Aid_1956.jpg --- wrote : Doug Hamilton has volunteered to moderate and to limit his moderation to ensuring adherence to Yahoo’s guidelines and no more. He will not moderate with his puritanical Buck alter-ego. Click on the link below to see a sample of how Doug Hamilton has commonly used FFL over the years. This is from a few weeks ago. Posts such as this are interspersed with incessant whining about how FFL is inappropriately run. In the hiring business, a common phrase is "Hire for attitude, train for skill". Well, I doubt if there will be any training for skill in this moderator position. Based on my observations of his approach to FFL, I don't see that Doug has either the attitude or the capacity to 'moderate' himself or FFL. However, the deed is done, and I guess only time will tell. Fairfield Life https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/414168 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/414168 Fairfield Life https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/414168 Fairfield Life focuses on topics of interest to seekers (and finders) of truth and liberation everywhere. Fairfield, Iowa is home to Maharishi University of Mana... View on groups.yahoo.com https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/414168 Preview by Yahoo --- mailto:rick@...> wrote --- mailto:dhamiltony2k5@...> wrote : We sat over this together in church the other day. It will be fine. –JaiGuruYou It was a wedding. Ordinarily you wouldn’t find me in church. Almost daily, various people urge me to moderate FFL or get someone to do it. With BatGap and my other responsibilities, I don’t have the time. I believe in very minimal moderation, at least for FFL. I think the “anything goes” nature of it has contributed to its success and longevity. But I think we are obligated to at least abide by Yahoo’s guidelines. Theoretically, frequent violation of those guidelines could get the group shut down. Doug Hamilton has volunteered to moderate and to limit his moderation to ensuring adherence to Yahoo’s guidelines and no more. He will not moderate with his puritanical Buck alter-ego. I know some will bristle at what they perceive as a restriction of their freedom of speech, but different types of speech are appropriate in different contexts, and again, in the context of a Yahoo group, we are obligated to abide by Yahoo’s guidelines. So I’m going to try this and see how it goes. If Doug abuses his authority and/or fails to moderate fairly and objectively, I will revoke his moderator status. --- mailto:turquoiseb@...> wrote : Sad news. Might I propose, before Doug starts banning people, that you and Rick insist on a few guidelines for *him* when he does this. I'm suggesting this because I think everyone here is aware that Doug is...uh...not quite in touch with reality these days, and tends to see things that aren't really there. So what I suggest is that if he is indeed given the power to ban someone, he cannot do so without reposting *the exact post* that Doug feels is in violation of the Yahoo Guidelines, and without explaining to the group *exactly why* he thinks this poster needs to be banned. Otherwise, you know what's going to happen. Doug will just ban the people he doesn't like, without telling *anyone*, and they'll just fall off the radar because they can't post any more, either to complain or to defend themselves. I think we all know that a tyrant has just been handed the keys to the kingdom. I think we also all know what he will do with them. I'm just suggesting a procedure that insures he can't do it in secret. From: "j_alexander_stanley@... [FairfieldLife] mailto:j_alexander_stanley@...%20[FairfieldLife]"; mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Moderating The Peep Show As is typically the case these days, I am completely out of the loop with respect to Rick's handling of FFL. Doug's posts this morning piqued my curiosity, and it turns out that Rick made Doug a moderator yesterday afternoon. I have no idea what Doug is supposed to do in terms of enforcement. As for me, my role will not change. --- mailto:dhamiltony2k5@...> wrote : Thanks R-V, I appreciate the perspective of your enlightened high-minded empathy in experience for the well-being of FFL.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Egg Rationing?
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3f/df/e0/3fdfe09fd42f1db9202cc3f23abdaae0.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3f/df/e0/3fdfe09fd42f1db9202cc3f23abdaae0.jpg --- wrote : Apparently so at least in Texas. More "end times" stuff? Is the "Bird Flu" a conspiracy? http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/05/the-largest-grocer-in-the-texas-is-now-rationing-eggs/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/05/the-largest-grocer-in-the-texas-is-now-rationing-eggs/ Poor Mikey and Willy.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Another billionaire who "gets it"
There are basicaly two types of socialist policies. 'Pro-investment socialist policies', and 'Pro-consumption socialist policies'. 'Pro-investment socialist policies' create a return greater than the money put in it. For example, improved infrastructure benefits everyone down to the lowest blue-coller worker. For instance, Gen. Colin Powel in an interview said he didn't spend a cent on his college education. It's an one time investment by the government and the returns that benefit the country are greater in the long term. 'Pro-consumption socialist policies' are dangerous. They drain the treasury and bankrupt the country. You saw that in argentina where they simply distributed things to people, in the form of freebies and populist policies. The country became bankrupt and the military took over. You know the routine. Socialism is the good cop, capitalism is the bad cop. You need both to run the show. Both, Marx and Market got it wrong. This is what economic commentator Gurumurthy has to say on this, Quote "Both Socialists and capitalists were wrong in thinking that big was fitter to survive and small had no chance. It proved that actually it was the other way round.Whether it is the free market US or the Socialist market China, it is small businesses that produce most jobs and sustain the economy. Now, see how Socialist theories destroyed family farms and tiny businesses. Chayanov Right, not Lenin In Russia and and China, which nearly fully Socialised their economies, those at the base of the pyramid were robbed of their economic activities. To illustrate, farm families lost their lands and self-employed, their jobs. Both were given government jobs. In Russia, Alexander Chayanov, a sensible Socialist, who argued family farming was more efficient and economic and protested against Socialising it, was first incarcerated by Lenin and finally shot dead by Stalin. Chayanov regarded family economics as distinct and different from both capitalist and Socialist. Several decades after Chayanov's death many economic thinkers of the world now see how right he was and how wrong both Socialist and capitalist economists were. While Socialist Russia had collectivised 80 per cent of its agrarian economy, in de-socialised Russia now, Dacha (household) gardens account for just 3 per cent of arable land, but grow an astounding 50 per cent by value of the food eaten by Russians. Government statistics (2000)say 35 million plus families (71 per cent of Russia's population) engage in Dacha gardening which provide 92 per cent of Russia's potato, 77 per cent of vegetables, 87 per cent of berries and fruits, 59 per cent of meat and 49 per cent of milk. This is neither Socialist nor capitalist. Just family economics." unquote --- wrote : Billionaire Cartier Owner Sees Wealth Gap Fueling Social Unrest http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-08/billionaire-cartier-owner-sees-wealth-gap-fueling-social-unrest http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-08/billionaire-cartier-owner-sees-wealth-gap-fueling-social-unrest I suppose there will be some here who see this as "Marxist Claptrap". :-D
[FairfieldLife] Re: Recent published scientific theory was created by an AI
http://www.wired.com/2009/04/newtonai/ http://www.wired.com/2009/04/newtonai/ http://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/apr/02/eureka-laws- nature-artificial-intelligence-ai http://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/apr/02/eureka-laws-nature-artificial-intelligence-ai Data scientist Michael schmidt sees the world filled with intricate beauty -- the flowering of a rose, the veins branching on a leaf, the flight of a Bumblebee. But below the surface of nature's wonders, Michael also sees a treasure trove of uncharted mathematical complexity. Schmidt: Well, I love coming out here. Nature is beautiful. There are equations hidden in every plant and every bee and the ecosystems involved in this garden. And part of science is figuring out what causes those things to happen. Freeman: Science is our effort to make sense of nature, and this quest has given us some very famous discoveries. In Newton's time, he was able to figure out a very important rule in physics, which is the law of gravity. It predicts how this apple falls and the forces that act upon this apple. Today in science, we're interested in similar problems but not just about how the apple falls but the massive complexity that follows from this very simple dynamic to the world around us. For example, when I drop this apple, the apple stirs up dust. This dust could hit a flower, and a bee may be less likely to pollinate that flower. And the entire ecosystem in this garden could change dramatically from that single event. Freeman: Scientists understand the basic forces of nature, but making precise predictions about what will happen in the real world with its staggering complexity is overwhelming to the human mind. So, one of the reasons why it's extremely difficult for humans to understand and figure out the equations and the laws of nature is literally the number of variables that are at play. There could be thousands of variables that influence a system that we're only just beginning to tease apart. In fact, there are so many of these equations, we'll never be able to finish analyzing them if we do it by hand. Freeman: In 2006, Michael began developing intelligent computer software that could observe complex natural systems and derive meaning from what seems like chaos. So, what I have here is a double pendulum. If you look at it, it consists of two arms. One arm swings along the top axis, and the second arm is attached to the bottom of the first arm, and it's two pendulums that are hooked together, one pendulum at the end of the other. Now, the pendulum is a great example of complexity because it exhibits some of the most complex behavior that we're aware of, which is called chaos. So, when you collect data from this sort of device, it looks almost completely random, and there doesn't appear to be any sort of pattern. But because this is a physical deterministic system, a pattern does exist. Freeman: Finding a pattern amidst the chaos of the double pendulum has stumped scientists for decades. But then Michael had a flash of inspiration. Why not grow new ideas the same way nature created us, using evolution? He called his program Eureka. Eureka starts with a primordial soup of random equations and checks how closely they fit the behavior of the double pendulum. If they don't fit, the computer kills them. If they do, the computer moves them into the next generation, where they mutate and try to get an even closer fit. Eventually, a winning equation emerges, one that Archimedes would be proud of. Eureka! Schmidt: And I'm running our algorithm now. On the left pane are the lists of the equations that Eureka has thought up for this double pendulum. Walking up, we can see we increase the complexity, and we're also increasing the agreement with the data. And eventually, as you go up, you start to get an extremely close agreement with the data, and eventually you snap on to a truth where you get a large improvement in the accuracy. And we can actually look in here and see exactly what pops out. For example here, you might notice we have a 9. 8, and if you remember from physics courses, that is the coefficient of gravity on earth. What's very important is the difference between the two angles of the double pendulum. This pops out. Essentially, we've used this software and the data we've collected to model chaos, and we've teased out the solution directly from the data. Freeman: Eureka has not only discovered a single equation to explain how a double pendulum moves. It has found meaning in what looks like chaos -- something no human or machine has done before. Schmidt: So, we could collect an entirely new data set, run this process again, and even though the data is completely different -- we could have different observations -- we can still identify the underlying truth, the underlying pattern, which is this equation. Freeman: To Michael, the future of scientific exploration isn't inside our heads
[FairfieldLife] Re: Another billionaire who "gets it"
The paradox of charity, also known as the Samaritan's paradox was first explained by James Buchanan. https://fee.org/freeman/detail/the-paradox-of-public-assistance https://fee.org/freeman/detail/the-paradox-of-public-assistance 'Centralized state socialism' leads to monopoly. 'Centralized state capitalism' leads to oligopoly. 'De-centralized non-state capitalism' is the only system that allows true free market competition. It ensures that those with merit reach the top. 'De-centralized non-state socialism' works only on the level of local community. It fails to work across large geographical distances. True socialism is not distributing wealth among people. True socialism is ensuring equal opportunities for all, for their education, progress and success. True capitalism is ensuring those with merit reach the top. The starting point is egalitarianism, the finishing point is meritocracy. --- mailto:noozguru@... wrote : What's wrong with less concentrated wealth? Do you believe in "special people" or something? On 06/09/2015 06:32 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: There are basicaly two types of socialist policies. 'Pro-investment socialist policies', and 'Pro-consumption socialist policies'. 'Pro-investment socialist policies' create a return greater than the money put in it. For example, improved infrastructure benefits everyone down to the lowest blue-coller worker. For instance, Gen. Colin Powel in an interview said he didn't spend a cent on his college education. It's an one time investment by the government and the returns that benefit the country are greater in the long term. 'Pro-consumption socialist policies' are dangerous. They drain the treasury and bankrupt the country. You saw that in argentina where they simply distributed things to people, in the form of freebies and populist policies. The country became bankrupt and the military took over. You know the routine. Socialism is the good cop, capitalism is the bad cop. You need both to run the show. Both, Marx and Market got it wrong. This is what economic commentator Gurumurthy has to say on this, Quote "Both Socialists and capitalists were wrong in thinking that big was fitter to survive and small had no chance. It proved that actually it was the other way round.Whether it is the free market US or the Socialist market China, it is small businesses that produce most jobs and sustain the economy. Now, see how Socialist theories destroyed family farms and tiny businesses. Chayanov Right, not Lenin In Russia and and China, which nearly fully Socialised their economies, those at the base of the pyramid were robbed of their economic activities. To illustrate, farm families lost their lands and self-employed, their jobs. Both were given government jobs. In Russia! , Alexander Chayanov, a sensible Socialist, who argued family farming was more efficient and economic and protested against Socialising it, was first incarcerated by Lenin and finally shot dead by Stalin. Chayanov regarded family economics as distinct and different from both capitalist and Socialist. Several decades after Chayanov's death many economic thinkers of the world now see how right he was and how wrong both Socialist and capitalist economists were. While Socialist Russia had collectivised 80 per cent of its agrarian economy, in de-socialised Russia now, Dacha (household) gardens account for just 3 per cent of arable land, but grow an astounding 50 per cent by value of the food eaten by Russians. Government statistics (2000)say 35 million plus families (71 per cent of Russia's population) engage in Dacha gardening which provide 92 per cent of Russia's potato, 77 per cent of vegetables, 87 per cent of berries and fruits, 59 per cent of meat and 49 per cent of milk. This is neither Socialist nor capitalist. Just family economics." unquote --- mailto:noozguru@... wrote : Billionaire Cartier Owner Sees Wealth Gap Fueling Social Unrest http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-08/billionaire-cartier-owner-sees-wealth-gap-fueling-social-unrest http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-08/billionaire-cartier-owner-sees-wealth-gap-fueling-social-unrest I suppose there will be some here who see this as "Marxist Claptrap". :-D
[FairfieldLife] Re: Moderating The Peep Show
In case you missed some of the old stuff that was in your absence, here it is, 11. It was a medical issue. The constant presence of Jim's, Nabby's, Steve's, and Ann's tongues up Judy's ass was aggravating her Crohn's Disease and giving her constant diarrhea. The only way she could get rid of it was to get rid of them. :-) 414053 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/414053 So far, not even Ann, who probably has her tongue stuck up Judy's butt and has been unable to post yet today. :-) 373266 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/373266 --- wrote : Oh, Barry, you doofus, you screwed up AGAIN. Twice in one morning! You need more coffee, or stronger coffee, or more sleep, or something. All that writing time wasted... NOWHERE did I claim to "represent the feelings of all people who practice TM." I was quite obviously speaking of the same people referred to in the quote from the post I was commenting on--those who were insulted by the earlier post in question. How could you have missed that?? This "mistake" invalidates all the other accusations you make against me here. And NOWHERE did I suggest that earlier post was "admissible evidence" to trigger moderation in the future. I'd be the first to complain if past behavior, appalling as it may have been, was used in this way. It's simply a matter of getting the history straight, because it tends to become distorted at the hands of...uh...certain people here. I think that's what Doug had in mind when he said that what I wrote will serve as a reference of "a time on FFL." A post like the one I'm now commenting on, however, full of accusations made up out of whole cloth, might well be a target for moderation. But that's up to Doug. --- wrote : Doug, I want to thank you for finally breaking your silence and commenting on the things you will "bear in mind" when looking for posters to censor. Uh, I mean "moderate," of course, because we all know that censorship would be BAD. But I think you're wrong about the "reference" value of the post below, so I will tell you why: 1. This post does NOT represent the feelings of all people who practice TM, although it claims to. Many on this forum who still practice TM and feel positively about Maharishi went out of their way at the time to comment that they did *NOT* feel "insulted" by the post this person is trying say was offensive and insulting. 2. This post is an attempt by one person to assert that she has the "right" to speak for ALL TMers and declare them all "insulted" by the post in question. She has neither that right, nor that ability. As mentioned in point #1, a few strong TMers spoke up back during the original furor saying that they did NOT find the post in question overly offensive, and that they did NOT feel personally offended by it. Thus the person writing this "brief" below is not only speaking for a group she has no right to speak for, she's WRONG in claiming that they would all feel "insulted." She's trying to claim (in essence) that what *she* felt is what *everyone* who practices TM would feel. 3. She's even WRONG about the insulting nature of the post. While the language used to create the metaphor for a certain mindset is admittedly over the top (for effect), the mindset is very real, and has been documented many times in the past -- on this forum and elsewhere. Every time a person knew that Maharishi in real life did and said things that his PR and his dogma claimed he was incapable of doing -- and *ignored* what they knew about what went on in real life -- they were exhibiting this mindset. I call the mindset "Attempting to deal with cognitive dissonance by denying the existence of the conflicting reality that goes against what they've been told to believe." For example, every time one of the skin boys told someone that Maharishi never "entertained" women in his room after hours *when they knew better because they were there and let the women in*, they were exhibiting this mindset. We have *several* of these skin boys on record as belatedly admitting to have lied in this fashion. Or take the TM teachers who, if asked, would swear on a stack of Gitas that Maharishi was *incapable* of being dishonest or breaking the law because he was so "in tune with the laws of nature" that being dishonest would be impossible for him. Then remember that some of the TM teachers saying this had *themselves* been asked by Maharishi to illegally carry large sums of money from Europe to the US, or from Europe to India. They *knew* he was capable of breaking the law because he had asked them to do it for him, but when asked, they denied that he was even *capable* of breaking the law. THAT is the mindset I'm speaking about, and that my metaphor was carefully chosen to represent. It exists. It's more prevalent than people like
[FairfieldLife] Re: Attn, emptybill do us a favor (You can solve a problem with force, or with intent and simple gestures)
Could you please click on the "> Show message history" tab at the bottom before writing your replies. Is this too much to ask? emptybill or emptybull or emptybug or whatever you are. I wonder if you read your own posts on the forum? --- wrote : It is a cult. What the f ... is wrong with you? Acts like a cult. Teaches like a cult. Coheres like a cult. You then imply ... is it really a cult? WTF ... Brainwashed?
[FairfieldLife] Re: An Honest Message from the Republican Party
A corporate-funded political system leads to state capitalism. A state-funded political system leads to non-state capitalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions _Index#2014 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index#2014 --- wrote : What's that got to do with anything? The political process has been hijacked long ago by the monied interests. Voter fraud occurs in many races on both Republican and Democrats side. Depends which side is running the precincts From: "jr_esq@... MJ, Where have you been? This country has many people below the poverty line. Detroit is the poorest city in the US. Even New York City is in the top 20 poorest cities in the country. See the full list below: The 20 Poorest Cities in the United States http://housely.com/news/20-poorest-cities-united-states/21/ http://housely.com/news/20-poorest-cities-united-states/21/ The 20 Poorest Cities in the United States http://housely.com/news/20-poorest-cities-united-states/21/ You might be surprised to see which of the nation's biggest cities are also among the poorest, with the most residents living well below the poverty line. View on housely.com http://housely.com/news/20-poorest-cities-united-states/21/ Preview by Yahoo --- wrote : Not when it has already been bought and paid for. From: "jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife]" The clip encourages people to destroy the American way of life. Believe it or not, the election process is not only stated in the Constitution, but it is also shown in the national jyotish chart. The election process is the transformation aspect of the American karma which fuels its economic success in the domestic and international fronts. Without it, the country will be destroyed just as the Iraqi people are destroying themselves in the quest for tribal and religious superiority. The election process looks like a waste of time. But its a necessary transformation not only for the US government, but for any governments that follow democratic principles. --- wrote : Already not looking forward to the horror that awaits us on FFL as America enters into its Silly Season and spends literally billions of dollars on election horseshit instead of fixing its many problems, I thought I'd pass along the only honest election message I've ever seen from the Republican Party: The Young Turks | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks/videos/10152447162239205/ https://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks/videos/10152447162239205/ The Young Turks | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks/videos/10152447162239205/ Please Don't Vote - A Message From The Republican Party h/t Rogue Kite Productions View on www.facebook.com https://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks/videos/10152447162239205/ Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: Dig deep for Asteroid Day..
It was a localised flood caused by the receding glaciers of the last ice-age. The earth wasn't destroyed at all. Lake Agassiz was a vast glacial lake on northen canada, holding about one and half times the water, all the rivers in the world carry to the seas, in an entire year. About 8,200 years ago the lake broke and all the water emptied into the atlantic in a few hours time. This caused Britain to become an island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Agassiz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Agassiz --- wrote : Asteroids could definitely destroy human civilizations or set it back to the time of the Dark Ages. It's also nature's way of saying to start a new way of living. This has happened in the recorded past of humanity, such as the time when the earth was destroyed by water during Noah's time. This could be one of the important reasons for humans to explore and colonize the Moon and Mars. Humans on these new worlds could help preserve the knowledge throughout history in case the civilizations on earth are destroyed. In the distant future, would it be possible for humans on Mars to return to Earth some day and start a new civilization? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : It would be the end of the world as we know it. A relatively small lump of rock – a small asteroid, perhaps only a few hundred metres across – plunging to Earth would devastate a continent or trigger tsunamis. Civilisation would be set back several centuries. It is a real risk, say a group of astronauts and astronomers who are to highlight the threat facing humanity by marking 30 June as Asteroid Day. The chosen date marks the anniversary of the “Tunguska event”, when a small asteroid or comet exploded above Siberia with the force of 1,000 atomic bombs. The largest impact event on Earth in recorded history, it occurred on 30 June 1908. Asteroid Day tries to save life as we know it http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/13/asteroid-day-anniversary-tunguska-siberia http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/13/asteroid-day-anniversary-tunguska-siberia Asteroid Day tries to save life as we know it http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/13/asteroid-day-anniversary-tunguska-siberia Scientists and astronauts launch appeal for infra-red telescope to detect objects that could bring catastrophe to Earth View on www.theguardian.com http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/13/asteroid-day-anniversary-tunguska-siberia Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: Dig deep for Asteroid Day..
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Cry2hN-xUQM/SJ0cZGGR1gI/ARE/MT_hbJFBrJU/s1600/kool+aid+2.JPG https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Cry2hN-xUQM/SJ0cZGGR1gI/ARE/MT_hbJFBrJU/s1600/kool+aid+2.JPG https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9c/db/e1/9cdbe1abfbc90cc8aa95c1dbfeb3f1ec.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9c/db/e1/9cdbe1abfbc90cc8aa95c1dbfeb3f1ec.jpg --- wrote : Maybe you want to join these folks: http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/583002/US-military-secretly-preparing-asteroid-wipe-out-mankind-September-Jade-Helm http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/583002/US-military-secretly-preparing-asteroid-wipe-out-mankind-September-Jade-Helm On 06/14/2015 05:27 AM, salyavin808 wrote: > It would be the end of the world as we know it. A relatively small lump of > rock – a small asteroid, perhaps only a few hundred metres across – plunging > to Earth would devastate a continent or trigger tsunamis. Civilisation would > be set back several centuries. > It is a real risk, say a group of astronauts and astronomers who are to > highlight the threat facing humanity by marking 30 June as Asteroid Day. > The chosen date marks the anniversary of the “Tunguska event”, when a small > asteroid or comet exploded above Siberia with the force of 1,000 atomic > bombs. The largest impact event on Earth in recorded history, it occurred on > 30 June 1908. > Asteroid Day tries to save life as we know it
[FairfieldLife] Re: Great Beyond Dispatch #2
Too bad things ended this way for 'uncle tantra'. He is a high calibre intellectual, but unfortunately a horrendous psychopath. As Judy pointed out, he is so focussed on displaying his dazzling language skills that he loses objectivity. This is what he said when I got bounced by Rick, "So IMO during this latest kerfuffle Jedi was just being an annoying Internet troll by trolling religious fanatic Jews. Dan, on the other hand, was trying to be a dictatorial bastard by trying to threaten Rick for not silencing him. Jedi was merely willing to diss religious fanatics. Dan was being *such* a dictatorial bastard that he was willing to try to get Yahoo to censure Fairfield Life or take it down because people on it were saying some things he didn't like. *That*, I am pretty sure, is what pushed Rick to act. In his own sick, twisted way, Dan was trying to do exactly the same thing that other asshole from the past was doing when he posted porn to FFL and then reported it to Yahoo, again in an attempt to get it taken down, and again for the same reason -- he didn't like what some people were saying about things he was attached to. Jedi was merely expressing his opinion, no matter how crudely or stupidly. Dan was trying to force other people to do what *he* wanted them to do. Given a choice, I'd rather live with foul-mouthed critics like Jedi than live with the insane people like Dan. But Rick made the "wisdom of Solomon" choice and got rid of BOTH of them. Win-win. Congratulations, Rick. 399695 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/399695 Agreed. Very Solomon-like, getting rid of both the 12-year-old and the whiner. I don't "auto delete" jedi's posts, just nuke them at the first glimpse of crazy, which is much of the time. Dan, however, has been on my DNR list since he reappeared, but he *still* required maintenance, just to empty the folder collecting his posts. It's been like living alone but having to flush the toilet 100 times a day to get rid of someone else's shit. Good riddance. 399571 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/399571 --- wrote : How come so many are talking about Turq? It seems he is still very much with us here, in spite of the cadre that wanted him removed. And note that when one 'R' was talked about after having been canned, he came back courtesy of Rick. And we still do not know the offence Turq was canned for, a total lack of transparency is still operational here by the head of the Fairfield Inquisition. What you wrote here is about equal to anything Turq ever wrote on this group, as far as content and tone, so his removal is all the more inexplicable. TurquoiseBee's alleged 'badness' really has counterparts among other members of this group, including those that ran to the Peak. Since I last cleared my email, there are practically no posts on the Peak. It seems as if the cowards there are returning here. An overpopulation of wussies spells ill for the quality of content on FFL. The problem with Turq was there were few who could make a reasoned argument against what he threw at you. Anything is possible. Turq's main gripe, if we could call it that, was that ego co-opted just about everything spiritual here, and so he poked repeatedly at that ego value masquerading as spiritual wisdom. ---Duveyoung wrote : Sour grapes, Turq? You've been here for fucking ever and now you can walk away as if it were nothing, eh? Nobody gunna miss ya much. Nobody gunna tearfully read your old posts like they were photos in an album. Nobody gunna say, "You know, Turq got us all on the right track about that issue." Not even Curtis will miss how you strode so haughtily into denial and tried to leave blood everywhere in your wake. Nobody gunna give ya a quick fix for your addiction: imagining emotional discomfort in others. What a fucked hobby that is. Dude, I mean, really? You added up to a negative number here. And now what? More coffee, group sex, films and running from the law? Just askin'. I have always suspected you were over there because of some problems over here. It just seems like such a natural conclusion given what a pissant sod you seem to be in real life. What is it? Back alimony? Law suit liens? Drug charges? One finds such a list easy to imagine. And here's me dissin' on your ass for no reason at all, eh? You never did jack shit one to anybody here and you can't imagine why all the chop-bustin' on ya? And I love it that you're saying you would never come back. GAWDyou just made it harder for yourself to beg for forgiveness. And you would've, but now, you've purposefully made it harder because you know you would have. See ya in a few years then. Time heals so much. But watch, by getting Alex to repost your replies, etc., you'll weasel your way back here and pretend you just "went on vacation is all." Aaa
[FairfieldLife] Re: WHAT THE HELL? (Great Beyond Dispatch #2)
Hey Xeno, it's me, moi, the old jedi_spock. Rick bounced me along with 'Dan firedman'. I never got yahoo to interfere in the freedom of speech here. It was Dan who did it. Rick didn't give me an opportunity to explain my POV. A few days later Rick kindly reinstated me. Thanks to Curtis who put in a good word to Rick. Looks like you too are becoming senile like Barry. It's these kind of errors that irritated authfriend. Tell you what, you and me, along with Salyavin, MJ, Curtis move over to "the abyss". Let 'the abyss' be the mirror of fairfieldlife. Hell, I wish someone like "gullible fool" comes back and takes over the moderatership from Buck. Barry's posts were never designed to give people clarity. Barry's posts were designed to hurt people at the tender feeling level and make them look like idiots. There was a sadistic streak in his posts that befuddled people. --- wrote : No, he doesn't appear to be a psychopath. If anything, I am closer to being one than him. His career path, and the people he lives with probably would not have worked out that way if he were a psychopath. Psychopaths tend to be ingratiating, they have an ability to make you like them. Turq does not seem to have that ability to create a fake, loving façade that will fool most people, if anything, he is the opposite, an acquired taste that many here cannot stomach. You were trying to get Yahoo to interfere with freedom of speech here, and Rick did not care for such a threat. But now of course, freedom of speech is curtailed, just in another direction, a bit more in the direction of insanty, as he gave moderation to the one here most infected with religion. Religious people tend not to enjoy free speech when it comes to their sacred cows. I think all people who believe in a religion are insane, so apparently you would fall into that category. But it is a limited insanity. For example, you might know how to make a good cup of coffee, and know precisely how to proceed to accomplish that and have other skills. But the human mind comes to a strange disconnect when it comes to religious beliefs. It is felt they must be protected and that somehow they are different from other beliefs. But all beliefs have one characteristic, they are a pretence to knowledge which one does not really have, and religious beliefs tend to be programmed into the mind at an early age where the mind is very plastic and vulnerable and gullible. It is a form of conditioning that results in a mechanical response to certain kinds of input later in life. A spiritual life is one in which those conditioned beliefs are unwound and are replaced by something you would never in a million years expect. --- wrote : Too bad things ended this way for 'uncle tantra'. He is a high calibre intellectual, but unfortunately a horrendous psychopath. As Judy pointed out, he is so focussed on displaying his dazzling language skills that he loses objectivity. This is what he said when I got bounced by Rick, "So IMO during this latest kerfuffle Jedi was just being an annoying Internet troll by trolling religious fanatic Jews. Dan, on the other hand, was trying to be a dictatorial bastard by trying to threaten Rick for not silencing him. Jedi was merely willing to diss religious fanatics. Dan was being *such* a dictatorial bastard that he was willing to try to get Yahoo to censure Fairfield Life or take it down because people on it were saying some things he didn't like. *That*, I am pretty sure, is what pushed Rick to act. In his own sick, twisted way, Dan was trying to do exactly the same thing that other asshole from the past was doing when he posted porn to FFL and then reported it to Yahoo, again in an attempt to get it taken down, and again for the same reason -- he didn't like what some people were saying about things he was attached to. Jedi was merely expressing his opinion, no matter how crudely or stupidly. Dan was trying to force other people to do what *he* wanted them to do. Given a choice, I'd rather live with foul-mouthed critics like Jedi than live with the insane people like Dan. But Rick made the "wisdom of Solomon" choice and got rid of BOTH of them. Win-win. Congratulations, Rick. 399695 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/399695?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma Agreed. Very Solomon-like, getting rid of both the 12-year-old and the whiner. I don't "auto delete" jedi's posts, just nuke them at the first glimpse of crazy, which is much of the time. Dan, however, has been on my DNR list since he reappeared, but he *still* required maintenance, just to empty the folder collecting his posts. It's been like living alone but having to flush the toilet 100 times a day to get rid of someone else's shit. Good riddance. 399571 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/399571?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma --- wrote : How come so many
[FairfieldLife] Re: WHAT THE HELL? (Great Beyond Dispatch #2)
You know Xeno, about 14 years ago 'Uncle Tantra' was like a giant to me, battling the TM-mov't and other cults. As all three of us are basically on the same page philosophically, I did learn a lot from him. But, as years of interaction showed he is not as perfect as I thought him to be. I guess we all are human. But, it's a fact that I learnt quite a number of valuable things from him. What I tried to explain is that his reaction when I was bounced, was almost brazen and callous. Some of his critiques about the TM-mov't a decade ago were well written and should be read by the people on the highest level in the mov't. It seemed, he began to slowly deterioriate mentally as years rolled by. Time is time, it eventually catches you, and you are history. By the way, don't you think MJ should start "the_abyss" group. The peak can be the north pole. The FairfieldLife the equator, and 'the abyss' the south pole. --- wrote : Senility just means life is getting mellower. While it is true authfriend would root out various kinds of errors in what people wrote, she often did not see the forest for the trees, and did not expound much on what she actually knew about the subjects she was criticising were discussing. It was all dissection and no integration. If you go over Turq's posts for the last 10 years, you will find he also could provide clarity. Both Turq and authfriend tried made people look like idiots, and possibly some us were and still are. --- wrote : Hey Xeno, it's me, moi, the old jedi_spock. Rick bounced me along with 'Dan firedman'. I never got yahoo to interfere in the freedom of speech here. It was Dan who did it. Rick didn't give me an opportunity to explain my POV. A few days later Rick kindly reinstated me. Thanks to Curtis who put in a good word to Rick. Looks like you too are becoming senile like Barry. It's these kind of errors that irritated authfriend. Tell you what, you and me, along with Salyavin, MJ, Curtis move over to "the abyss". Let 'the abyss' be the mirror of fairfieldlife. Hell, I wish someone like "gullible fool" comes back and takes over the moderatership from Buck. Barry's posts were never designed to give people clarity. Barry's posts were designed to hurt people at the tender feeling level and make them look like idiots. There was a sadistic streak in his posts that befuddled people. --- wrote : No, he doesn't appear to be a psychopath. If anything, I am closer to being one than him. His career path, and the people he lives with probably would not have worked out that way if he were a psychopath. Psychopaths tend to be ingratiating, they have an ability to make you like them. Turq does not seem to have that ability to create a fake, loving façade that will fool most people, if anything, he is the opposite, an acquired taste that many here cannot stomach. You were trying to get Yahoo to interfere with freedom of speech here, and Rick did not care for such a threat. But now of course, freedom of speech is curtailed, just in another direction, a bit more in the direction of insanty, as he gave moderation to the one here most infected with religion. Religious people tend not to enjoy free speech when it comes to their sacred cows. I think all people who believe in a religion are insane, so apparently you would fall into that category. But it is a limited insanity. For example, you might know how to make a good cup of coffee, and know precisely how to proceed to accomplish that and have other skills. But the human mind comes to a strange disconnect when it comes to religious beliefs. It is felt they must be protected and that somehow they are different from other beliefs. But all beliefs have one characteristic, they are a pretence to knowledge which one does not really have, and religious beliefs tend to be programmed into the mind at an early age where the mind is very plastic and vulnerable and gullible. It is a form of conditioning that results in a mechanical response to certain kinds of input later in life. A spiritual life is one in which those conditioned beliefs are unwound and are replaced by something you would never in a million years expect.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Rick, Time to shut down FFL (Great Beyond Dispatch #2)
Both, Barry and Judy are no longer posting here. I also losing my inclination to post here. Is it time for Rick to shut down FFL? Nothing lasts forever. All things must end. If Barry were around he would have quoted Nietzsche. "Not only the wisdom of centuries --- also their madness breaketh out in us. Dangerous is it to be an heir." ~ Nietzsche --- wrote : I must say I'm impressed at your patience with this bullshit Xeno. But perhaps it's time to point out the irony in what's happening. Here we have a bunch of people with not much to say about anything claiming that "mean old Bawee" stopped them from posting because he was such a mean old meanie. And here they are pouring abuse on you in the same way they claim he used to get at them! I've said these people have no sense of awareness but isn't this taking it too far? I think that amoeba I posted about yesterday has a better grasp of what's going on than Ms "Back for More". Lets make a challenge out of it. If it was the Big Bad Wolf stopping conversations here then why haven't they started again? How come it's looking more like a teenage girl's facebook page every day? If you were being prevented from posting, start posting. Start a thread, say something interesting, tell us something we didn't know, give us an insight into something - anything. But stop this dumb harassment of Xeno, you're just making yourself look stupid, he's got more to say than the rest of us put together. If you can't manage a whole thread you can share brain cells until you've thought of something. Better still, have a look back through the archives at some of Barry's pieces about creative writing. He posted some good essays on how to get started on the subject because, like me, he got fed up of the lack of participation and one line posts that add nothing that infest this place. But any appreciation of Barry's writing and contributions about archaeology, travel or history or even TV reviews would be a way of admitting that he made up a huge part of what was worth reading. Can't have that eh? Got to paint him bad and use him to blame your lack of meaningful participation on. When was the last time Judy started a thread? Hell, when was the first time Judy started a thread! Make an effort, stop the hypocritical bullshit or this place will drown in bland your pap.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Time to come clean Doug
Curtis, have you spoken to Rick over the phone about this? You took a lot of effort to bring me back into the forum. You certainly can bring Barry back to the forum. Where is Dr. Pete when we need him? --- wrote : There is something slippery going on here. Judy, who is the first to make a stink about the context of a quote when it serves her own purposes has clipped out this paragraph of Barry's from the thread context, dishonestly making it look like Barry said this in a vacuum. The context was Buck continuing to make a case that criticizing David Lynch was a violation of the Yahoo guidelines. This quote was contained in a plea to Rick to remove an obviously highly biased moderator who was gunning to kick Barry off. (Which then actually happened.) Here is the more complete thread giving Buck's absurd accusations and Barry's response. To me it looks like a rational response to lunacy. I will put Buck's first so his apologists can take a crack at explaining how this is a reasonable position to take concerning calling David Lynch an idiot. BUCK: Additionally, “Exploitative or degrading comments are not welcome in Groups.” “..and don't invade other people's privacy.” The dragging of someone in to an unrelated thread as a means to slur them using FFL, a yahoo-group.. Whoa, for instance DLynch as a practitioner of TM worked with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi quite a lot on the teaching of TM quite evidently for good reasons and quite evidently Lynch knew well enough the scope of the 'what for and why' he was there. Quite evidently Turqb here is actively trying to slur and degrade DLynch personally by jumping in to this thread with an unqualified non sequitur posting publicly using [ 'exploitative' ] a Yahoo-group [FFL]. Now in a choice of moderation Turqb can go back in and delete this posting of his post haste and protect his membership status here or will this be left to the FFL moderators to go in and do it? The choice is Turq's. -JaiGuruYou Barry: This has really become too sad to get involved with. Rick, please do something to help Doug -- like removing him from his position as moderator. The responsibility and the genuine impossibility of the task have clearly caused him to become mentally ill. It was entertaining for a while when he was just embarrassing himself. But now he's embarrassing the whole forum. Moderator or not, Doug is now officially back on my Troll List. I will no longer bother to read anything he says or reply to anything he posts. Like our recently departed member, he no longer exists. By acting this crazy, he has effectively -- and ironically -- deleted himself. From: "dhamiltony2k5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 9:13 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: On Gratuitous invasions of privacy Additionally, “Exploitative or degrading comments are not welcome in Groups.” “..and don't invade other people's privacy.” The dragging of someone in to an unrelated thread as a means to slur them using FFL, a yahoo-group.. Whoa, for instance DLynch as a practitioner of TM worked with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi quite a lot on the teaching of TM quite evidently for good reasons and quite evidently Lynch knew well enough the scope of the 'what for and why' he was there. Quite evidently Turqb here is actively trying to slur and degrade DLynch personally by jumping in to this thread with an unqualified non sequitur posting publicly using [ 'exploitative' ] a Yahoo-group [FFL]. Now in a choice of moderation Turqb can go back in and delete this posting of his post haste and protect his membership status here or will this be left to the FFL moderators to go in and do it? The choice is Turq's. -JaiGuruYou ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The responses below are some of the least rational, internally most contradictory responses that I have come across here. How the writer (apparently) considers these to constitute even a remotely coherent argument (and fails to see his responses as a complete surrender of moral principle to "I choose to believe and do whatever suits my desired ends") is beyond me. But this from Turq is fine with you, eh, JamesAlan? "Moderator or not, Doug is now officially back on my Troll List. I will no longer bother to read anything he says or reply to anything he posts. Like our recently departed member, he no longer exists. By acting this crazy, he has effectively -- and ironically -- deleted himself." https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/417032 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/417032 Actually, I didn't find Steve's responses irrational, internally contradictory, incoherent, or a surrender of moral principle. But perhaps you'd be willing to go into some detail and cite examples of these p
[FairfieldLife] Re: mjackson74 can be moderator (A modest proposal)
I think, mjackson74 should be made a moderator. He can be a good counter-balance to Buck. Is mjackson74 willing to be a moderator? --- wrote : Re this new FFL regime where members are banned after posting offensive messages. There's a division between those, like me, to whom an insult on a topical website simply makes me shrug my shoulders - like water off a duck's back, to mix my metaphors; and those to whom FFL is a "spiritual" site and members should have a certain, minimum consideration of the feelings of those they disagree with. Here's the thing: there used to be a rule that those who posted too many messages over a period would be banned from the site for a week or whatever. Now that Buck has volunteered to be the site's censor why not allow him to ban someone who is offensive for a week at a time (not permanently)? That way anyone who persistently abused others would, as persistently, be banned from posting to the site. Would that not be a reasonable compromise? One difference from the rule when posters were ostracised for too many messages is that that sanction was automatically triggered when the counter indicated someone had got too fond of the sound of his own voice. Whether someone is offensive is clearly a subjective judgement. Buck has taken on the role - isn't he a true believer? So won't he come down hardest on those who take a more sceptical view of TM and MMY? But setting aside that issue - Buck is the one who volunteered to take on the role, and I wouldn't like the job! - wouldn't my "modest proposal" be an acceptable solution? --- wrote : It depends on what you mean by "offensive". I found "Back for more" really offensive for spending three days slagging off Xeno for having the temerity to post a series of logic and reasonable arguments against Buck's first putsch. I could have been all nicety-nice about it but what's the point? If someone is so pathologically clueless they spend days attacking someone in exactly the sort of way that they claim drove them away from FFL in the first place they are going to be too self-centred to notice any subtle inflexions that I could impart. Personally I think behaviour like that ought to be self-moderating in that if I was called on such rank hypocrisy I'd be too embarrassed to show my face here for a month. But here they are already commenting on this very post with another round of sneering, lying, goading and insulting. Some people are just too full of themselves. Go figure
[FairfieldLife] Re: "back and forth" (Time to come clean Doug)
> > --- wrote : > > Yes, Turqb and Serious are gone from FFL by moderation. I am only the CEO. > > My master is the list owner. We had quite sufficient back and forth about > > this before taking our additional time to go in to pull the moderation > > levers in the controls > --- wrote : > Where does Doug say bouncing Barry was a joint decision by him and Rick? > Isn't that what you accused him of lying about? > I don't see it. "This" refers to "I am only the CEO. My master is the list > owner." Entirely proper, and what Rick said as well ("If Doug abuses his > authority and/or fails to moderate fairly and objectively, I will revoke his > moderator status"). > "Pull the moderation levers in the controls" refers to Rick changing the > member settings for the group to allow Doug to moderate (delete posts, > bounce people, approve posts before they go up, etc.). > Where's the lie, Curtis? > Yer gettin' old, Curtis. Your technique is becoming calcified. Judy, you are totally crazy. You know what Buck exactly meant by "back and forth". Buck clearly implied that it was a joint decision by both him and Rick. You can't be this dense, not to have understood what has happened. The entire event happened by subterfuge.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Uncle Tantra an enigma, a paradox (Reaffirming The Yahoo-Groups Guidelines)
Uncle Tantra was really a complex character. One of the reasons you guy were so pissed with him is because, he constantly brags about how fantastic his life is, how much he is really enjoying is life, and how dull and drab are the lives of other members of FFL. A guy who is *really* enjoying his life will never brag to others about his fantastic life, and such a person will also never make fun of other peoples drab lives. Imagine Bill Gates coming to this forum and bragging how rich he is and how poor we all are. You would certainly think something is seriously wrong here. He was really a primadonna queen, treating this forum as his personal blog. It ate up too much space. I warned him about it on a few occasions, but it fell on deaf ears. He often ranted about how well he is ignoring certain other people on the forum. "ignore their sill asses, ignore their silly asses" as he would say. Barry has amazing philosophical talent and intellectual talent. But as all immensely talented people have flaws, he too had some. These things don't change the fact, that I learnt a lot of valuable things from him. I would be a churl if I denied that. I think he learnt most of his tacky-tawdry psychological trickery, and a number of bad habits from that charlatan Rama Lenz. I think it corrupted his soul, and he never really got out of that strangle hold. Barry also had a bright side. An amazing sense of humor. A fine appreciation of music and movies. An excellent understanding of both science and philosophy and how the two fit together. Some of the conversations he had on the forum are very memorable. A 100 years in the future, if a historian does research on the TM-movement, I am sure he would be mentioned in that. --- Duveyoung wrote : Judy said: (Goodness knows you don't have the integrity to retract it.) Um, that's exactly the kind of trollery that the dearly departed perfected. YOU'RE NOT A PSYCHIATRIST. Posts at FFL are never enough to decide on someone's integrity. Face it, Judy, you're still smacking back, instead of turning a cheek. Are you really that victimized by anything anyone says here? If you won this argument, if everyone but Curtis backed you up, even then, I don't see you getting happier, but merely going on to the next issue with the same 'tude. Is that a fair assumption on my part? Or have I just trolled you? After all these years, with this new-life spurt here, why not give it a rest? You're much bigger than these tiny shit barbs. Of course, I've made it harder to suck it up, because I'm not a pal, and here am I giving therapeutic advice, but it is what it is. Heh, some of my most commonly recurring truth-concepts have been taught to me by my enemies.I'm talking serious fucking enemies who left still deeply red scars on my soulso I have to bat away thoughts about them when I dwell with the truths they taught. It just so sucks, eh? Heh, gotta ask, "what's the actual risk of Doug?" Will he bounce others? I don't think so. Look at this scurvy's crew's roiling bitching at each other that's going on RIGHT NOW, and he's done nothing about that. Maybe it was a vendetta against the trolls with "any reason" being enough. So? Yeah, abusive. So? I just don't see this kind of fascism happening again unless someone truly rises to the troll heights -- which was a very high bar being set. Doug chided me about swearing, but nothing since even though I still swear -- this shows his, um, forbearance? Bah, I'm just happy I can post here again without really having to steel myself for the barbs. Short sighted of me, but there it is. If there is a Sword of Damocles, it's a heavy chain holding it up. More than you know, Bro. If anything, all I can do is excuse myself is say, "I'm still giddy with all the new-found freedom here." But, too, yes, I do sincerely get it that you and Turq had a robust and decent relationship here at FFL that often served our needs. Sorry for your loss. Hey, ask Turq to tell you where else he's posting about spiritual stuff -- maybe you guys can tag team there!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Uncle Tantra an enigma, a paradox (Reaffirming The Yahoo-Groups Guidelines)
--- wrote : Uncle Tantra was really a complex character. One of the reasons you guy were so pissed with him is because, he constantly brags about how fantastic his life is, how much he is really enjoying is life, and how dull and drab are the lives of other members of FFL. A guy who is *really* enjoying his life will never brag to others about his fantastic life, and such a person will also never make fun of other peoples drab lives. --- wrote : That is just a guess, it is certainly logically possible to have a fantastic life and to talk about how fantastic it is. In theory yes, but in practice no. You would surely understand that. Imagine Bill Gates coming to this forum and bragging how rich he is and how poor we all are. You would certainly think something is seriously wrong here. Maybe, but Gates could prove he was richer than just about anyone else. And what is the point? Would it be explicit or implicit? He was really a primadonna queen, treating this forum as his personal blog. It ate up too much space. I warned him about it on a few occasions, but it fell on deaf ears. He often ranted about how well he is ignoring certain other people on the forum. "ignore their sill asses, ignore their silly asses" as he would say. Barry has amazing philosophical talent and intellectual talent. But as all immensely talented people have flaws, he too had some. These things don't change the fact, that I learnt a lot of valuable things from him. I would be a churl if I denied that. I think he learnt most of his tacky-tawdry psychological trickery, and a number of bad habits from that charlatan Rama Lenz. I think it corrupted his soul, and he never really got out of that strangle hold. Barry also had a bright side. An amazing sense of humor. A fine appreciation of music and movies. An excellent understanding of both science and philosophy and how the two fit together. Some of the conversations he had on the forum are very memorable. A 100 years in the future, if a historian does research on the TM-movement, I am sure he would be mentioned in that. --- Duveyoung wrote : Judy said: (Goodness knows you don't have the integrity to retract it.) Um, that's exactly the kind of trollery that the dearly departed perfected. YOU'RE NOT A PSYCHIATRIST. Posts at FFL are never enough to decide on someone's integrity. Face it, Judy, you're still smacking back, instead of turning a cheek. Are you really that victimized by anything anyone says here? If you won this argument, if everyone but Curtis backed you up, even then, I don't see you getting happier, but merely going on to the next issue with the same 'tude. Is that a fair assumption on my part? Or have I just trolled you? After all these years, with this new-life spurt here, why not give it a rest? You're much bigger than these tiny shit barbs. Of course, I've made it harder to suck it up, because I'm not a pal, and here am I giving therapeutic advice, but it is what it is. Heh, some of my most commonly recurring truth-concepts have been taught to me by my enemies.I'm talking serious fucking enemies who left still deeply red scars on my soulso I have to bat away thoughts about them when I dwell with the truths they taught. It just so sucks, eh? Heh, gotta ask, "what's the actual risk of Doug?" Will he bounce others? I don't think so. Look at this scurvy's crew's roiling bitching at each other that's going on RIGHT NOW, and he's done nothing about that. Maybe it was a vendetta against the trolls with "any reason" being enough. So? Yeah, abusive. So? I just don't see this kind of fascism happening again unless someone truly rises to the troll heights -- which was a very high bar being set. Doug chided me about swearing, but nothing since even though I still swear -- this shows his, um, forbearance? Bah, I'm just happy I can post here again without really having to steel myself for the barbs. Short sighted of me, but there it is. If there is a Sword of Damocles, it's a heavy chain holding it up. More than you know, Bro. If anything, all I can do is excuse myself is say, "I'm still giddy with all the new-found freedom here." But, too, yes, I do sincerely get it that you and Turq had a robust and decent relationship here at FFL that often served our needs. Sorry for your loss. Hey, ask Turq to tell you where else he's posting about spiritual stuff -- maybe you guys can tag team there!
[FairfieldLife] Re: FFL
> > --- wrote : > > xeno, freakin' light bulb just went off in my head. > > why you don't adopt the "patented" font, with the patented (-: (-: (-: > > and maybe it will make you feel better. > > whaddya say! (-: --- wrote : He just said goodbye, what else are you expecting? How's the weather in old Blighty? Let's see, Barry dumped, Shemp left, authfriend left, Llundrub left, off_world left, KennyH left, Sal sunshine left, Willy dumped. Vaj left. I think Xeno and Curtis left. Time for me to leave as well. Mahesh Yogi taught you 'the art of living'. But, you should also know the 'art of leaving'. Nice knowing all, past posters, present posters. I think Barry's last words on the forum is this, "Thanks to many people here for the great writing and the many times you have stood up for yourselves and done the right thing. Good luck working all of this out." Same here. Ditto. > > > --- wrote : >>>z >>> >>>zz..
[FairfieldLife] Re: FFL
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : > > --- wrote : > > xeno, freakin' light bulb just went off in my head. > > why you don't adopt the "patented" font, with the patented (-: (-: (-: > > and maybe it will make you feel better. > > whaddya say! (-: --- wrote : He just said goodbye, what else are you expecting? How's the weather in old Blighty? Not bad today, nearly hot enough for people to stop complaining about the cold and start complaining about the heat. Let's see, Barry dumped, Shemp left, authfriend left, Llundrub left, off_world left, KennyH left, Sal sunshine left, Willy dumped. Vaj left. I think Xeno and Curtis left. Time for me to leave as well. Mahesh Yogi taught you 'the art of living'. But, you should also know the 'art of leaving'. Nice knowing all, past posters, present posters. Yes, cheers Jason. It's been fun but good things come to an end I think Barry's last words on the forum is this, "Thanks to many people here for the great writing and the many times you have stood up for yourselves and done the right thing. Good luck working all of this out." Same here. Ditto. I nearly quit a few weeks ago when I was writing a post and thought I'd illustrate my point with a quote but I couldn't remember who it was so I googled it and the only result I found was from myself in a post here saying, exactly the same thing. Word for word. Time to go I thought. TTFN Wish you all the very best Sal. Couldn't resist one more post. Signing off. Over and out. > > > --- wrote : >>>z >>> >>>zz..
[FairfieldLife] Religion itself is a strawman
The point is, fraudulent people use fraudulent religions as a smokescreen, to advance their own fraudulent agenda. The modern civilisation still hasn't reconciled itself with the darker side of islamic ideology. The educational system in these countries only makes it worse. They churn out mindless zombies. --- wrote : Religious taboos are memes, concepts designed to protect ideas that do not stand up to scrutiny from being scrutinised by way of coercion and fear, an attempt to condition the mind, which is naturally curious, from directing its attention in the direction of such scrutiny. 'It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to Infidelity.' —Abraham Lincoln --- wrote : Thanks. Yes, he seems to be making the same point as I just have. Re "I don't think cowardice comes into it.": well, in The Guardian's case it seems not - judging from the article; but in may other cases fear is for sure playing a part. --- wrote : Je suis d'accord, though my instinct is to feel pity rather than disgust - and then Saudi Arabia publicly flogs a journalist for running a "liberal" website on the same day they condemn the killings in Paris and I'm disgusted too: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/11/flogging-global-outrage-saudi-arabia-silent http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/11/flogging-global-outrage-saudi-arabia-silent --- wrote : Yep, as I was saying a few days ago when Feste was urging us to "respect" Muslims' religious beliefs, how exactly are we supposed to feel anything but disgust for a group that really believes it's permissible to order a hit on anyone who creates an image of a human being? I know that the Guardian ran this story because they believe that this nut job cleric is out of the ordinary and a bit of a statistical outlier, but it is actually *standard Sunni Muslim dogma* that creating images of human beings is "worshipping idols" and thus punishable by death. Technically, the Charlie Hebdo murders would have been justified in these fanatics' eyes if they'd published completely reverential images of Mohammed. So I'm sorry, but anyone who dares to tell me that I "have to respect these people's religion" is as insane as they are. Anyone who believes this shit is either stuck in the Middle Ages or insane or both, and we have a responsibility to other sane human beings to point it out.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Ca... ca... can we all get along?
Bill, human civilisation has faced numerous challenges in the past, starting from cannibalism, slavery, exploitation, Nazism, Communism etc etc. Nothing lasts for ever. It is an immutable law of nature that in the end, all things vanish, disappear. Islam is the latest bitch on the centerstage, this too will go, disappear. Before the industrial revolution, Christianity was a harsh and brutal religion. It took a series of reforms to make it tolerable to the modern age. In fact, Christianity has more blood on it's hands than Islam. Any religious ideology that openly declares it's superiority will come under intense scrutiny. If it needs to survive, Islam better get used to this reaming. Ultimately in the end, it's neither Christianity or Islam that is the issue. It's our inability to understand these religions from the 21st century perspective. --- wrote : Oh ... no ... I'm being empty. --- wrote : The Information Age Will Be The Death Of Islam http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2015/03/the-information-age-will-be-death-of.html The following was written by Eric Allen Bell http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2012/08/why-liberal-film-maker-changed-his-mind.html http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l5eBw2tmIIQ/VOp2W6ImogI/AZ0/ARd21IIXZZ0/s1600/information%2Bwill%2Bbe%2Bthe%2Bend%2Bof%2Bislam.jpg We do not vandalize. We do not engage in hate speech. We have respect for the law. We do not harm our fellow citizens. We are slow to anger and when we finally get angry, we express that anger in a civilized way. UNDER THAT BANNER, I WILL STATE THE FOLLOWING: Follower of Islam, I do not tolerate you. Your feigned or willful ignorance about Islam is no longer an excuse. I hold you personally accountable. I am offended by you. I cannot and will not tolerate a person who follows an ideology which teaches the inferiority of women, the killing and hatred of Jews, the execution of homosexuals, the silencing of free speech, forced amputations, the stoning of rape victims, genital mutilation, and the violent overthrow of all non-Islamic governments and civilizations. Islam is Nazism with a god. And I cannot and will not “coexist” with Nazis. I will not patronize your places of business. I will not hire you. I will not buy your products. I will not support politicians who support you. I will not be your friend. And if I am your neighbor, I will always be suspicious of you and cautious. I want you to feel so uncomfortable in my free country, in my civilized country, that you renounce your allegiance to this savage and fascist ideology or leave. ISLAM IS THE ENEMY of free speech, of human rights and of Liberty. If you follow Islam, you are my enemy. I encourage you now to leave Islam and take your place among the civilized people of this world. But if you insist on remaining loyal to the brutal savagery of Islam, your enemies will grow faster than can be contained by an Islamic lobbyist group or the media or any government agency. This is a zero sum game and the Civilized World will win. ISLAM HAS BEEN AT WAR FOR 1,400 YEARS with freedom and all that is good. But my head is no longer hidden in the sand. I am at war with you. All people who value human rights, freedom and Liberty should be at war with you. And they will be soon enough, because the enemy of Islam is information and we are spreading information faster than you can keep up with. There is no way to put this genie back in the bottle now. The information age will be the death of Islam. Your 1,400 year reign of terror is coming to an end. And you, follower of Islam, are on the wrong side of history. It is time for all civilized people to find the moral clarity and the courage to GET ANGRY and to BECOME INTOLERANT. You have the ability to do this in a civilized way. We must not become like the savages whom we oppose — otherwise they win. But Islam must be stopped. When you support the followers of Islam, you support an ideology that promotes genocide against the unbeliever — as clearly outlined in the Quran. THE TIME HAS COME TO BOYCOTT THE FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM. FOLLOWER OF ISLAM, I PERSONALLY HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE FOR SUPPORTING THIS FASCIST IDEOLOGY. Tolerance is overrated. If you follow the Quran, you are the enemy of freedom and you are my enemy.
[FairfieldLife] Re: One for Turq and fellow conspiracy fans
Many people of the modern age simply don't understand that sexuality is an issue of the 'private space', and was never an issue of the 'public space'. A true centerist like me, would want a highly conservative 'public space', and a liberal 'private space'. I think all countries in the world should have 5 zones. 1) Restricted zone, or the Red zone. 2) Industrial zone, or the orange zone. 3) Commercial zone, or the yellow zone. 4) Residential zone, or the Blue zone. 5) Free zone, or the Green zone. Even if you can't eradicate all the vices on the planet, you can atleast restrict it to the 'Free zone', so that they don't bother rest of the population. Is this too hard to ask of all the Governments? --- wrote : Family of Alan Turing to demand government pardon 49,000 other men http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/feb/22/family-alan-turing-government-petition-pardons-gross-indecency-homosexuality http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/feb/22/family-alan-turing-government-petition-pardons-gross-indecency-homosexuality Family of Alan Turing to demand government pardon 49,000... http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/feb/22/family-alan-turing-government-petition-pardons-gross-indecency-homosexuality Campaigners to bring petition to Downing Street, demanding all men con... View on www.theguardian.com http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/feb/22/family-alan-turing-government-petition-pardons-gross-indecency-homosexuality Preview by Yahoo From: "Mike Dixon mdixon.6569@... [FairfieldLife]" Decriminalization may be what I remembered reading. From: "TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife]" I don't think this is true. Homosexual acts were decriminalized, but no one (other than famous people like Turing) were ever granted pardons for the incarcerations and chemical castrations they had been subjected to. If you think it through, that could never happen, because it would open the UK government to millions -- possible billions -- of pounds in reparation lawsuits. Some Brit may be able to correct me on this, but none of the articles I've seen about this shameful era of British history suggest that anyone has even *apologized* to the victims of these laws, much less issued pardons to them. From: "Mike Dixon mdixon.6569@... [FairfieldLife]" I'm pretty sure, though not absolutely certain, that *pardon* was extended to everyone later. From: "Michael Jackson mjackson74@... [FairfieldLife]" Just got home from watching Imitation Game - quite a good film, Cumberbatch is excellent as always. I thought the pardon was a wunnerful thang. It was done as a "royal prerogative of mercy" which just goes to show Her Starchiness does have some practical use in today's UK? From: "s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, April 4, 2015 8:44 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: One for Turq and fellow conspiracy fans Re "The Imitation Game to watch with my daughter and her mom": It mentions at the end of the film that Alan Turing has recently been pardoned (a Royal Pardon, no less) for his conviction for homosexual indecent acts. That's just the kind of headline-grabbing, liberal hand-wringing that drives me nuts. My grievance is that if the argument is that being gay is no longer a crime so we should posthumously and retrospectively pardon those convicted under the old law then why single out Turing? Surely *everyone* convicted under the old legal framework deserves a reprieve? There's also the issue that we are all well aware that they did things differently in Olde England. To revisit the past and apply contemporary standards to old judgements is pointless. We wouldn't have forcibly deported someone to Australia for stealing a loaf of bread, but so what? There's something tiresomely self-congratulatory about these revisions. It's advertising to the world how tolerant and well-intentioned you are.
Re: [FairfieldLife] The madness of Chopra...
There is no such thing as 'rational consciousness'. You are a 'cut and paste' moron. Read some real science and come back to us. --- wrote : Consciousness means self-consciousness, which cannot be identified with the human body. Acording to Sam Harris, there is nothing in the physical sciences that would indicate tht consciousness has any physical properties. Thoughts and ideas, not being material objects, cannot be perceived; they can only be inferred. Animals also possess a physical body, but not rational consciousness. If consciousness is a property of the body, it must be perceived like other material properties. But nobody can see consciousness, smell it, taste it, touch it, or even hear it. Consciousness has no physical properties that the human senses can detect or adequately describe in words. In fact, consciousness is the very constructed character of knowing - knowledge (vidya) that is structured in consciousness. This is the Hindu non-dual Advaita Vedanta view (Sri Vidya) and to the same extent, the view of Buddhist Vajrayana. In order to refute these idealist views, the debater would have to refute not only Shankara (8th century CE) Vasabandhu and Asanga (4th century CE), but also I. Kant., F. Hegel, and A. Schopenhauer - not any easy task. LoL! ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Brian Cox "debating" Deepak Chopra would be amusing, Non sequitur. but it would be sorta like a normal intelligent person debating Willytex. My position, and the position of most idealistic transcendentalists, is that we infer, from the fact of being conscious, that consciousness itself is the ultimate reality - because without consciousness, we would not exist. After two minutes most people would feel so sorry for the retard that they wouldn't really be able to enjoy the takedowns. Non sequitur. From: salyavin808 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2015 8:17 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The madness of Chopra... ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Oh God, you gotta read this one about Chopra! A Knock Out Punch! I'm surprised that Brian Cox actually gets involved with Deepak, usually when someone mentions woo-woo he just says "pah" and walks away. I think he should do a debate with Chopra, the one DC had with Dawkins was limited to biology - about which Deepak knows nothing - and philosophy - which is a dead end. Chopra had his weird physics to fall back on which Dawkins isn't an expert in and so couldn't deliver any sort of KO. Brian would be the man for the job here and would no doubt come up with some killer quotes for future reference. Victor Stenger wrote a book about quantum gods but it doesn't focus enough on Marshy's ideas to really give the TMer an unequivocal explanation about where the idea falls down, you have to adapt it yourself and it gives a bit of wiggle room because one could claim that it doesn't specifically say that yogic flying doesn't cause world peace. So bring on the debate. Maybe Lawson could organise it on Reddit? Superstition | Uncertainty Blog http://uncertaintyblog.com/category/superstition/ http://uncertaintyblog.com/category/superstition/ Superstition | Uncertainty Blog http://uncertaintyblog.com/category/superstition/ Posts about Superstition written by theuncertaintyblog View on uncertaintyblog.com http://uncertaintyblog.com/category/superstition/ Preview by Yahoo From: salyavin808 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, April 10, 2015 1:44 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] The madness of Chopra... I’ve never done anything to Deepak Chopra. At least, not in this lifetime. Perhaps I’ve mocked his surrealistically bizarre anti-science pronouncements among my friends a few times, or a few thousand times. How could I not when he tweeted that his personal meditation caused an earthquake http://mashable.com/2010/04/04/deepak-chopra-earthquake/ or claimed that the moon doesn’t exist http://www.skepticblog.org/2010/03/23/does-the-moon-exist/ unless someone sees it? Chopra is so on the fringe, it’s actually fun to read him usually—picture me with tears in my eyes, emitting cackles like Mozart’s braying laugh in Amadeus. But when he goes after evolution, it starts to feel personal—and less amusing. Chopra believes there is some “consciousness” that flows through the universe—an energy field created by all living things, surrounding us and penetrating us, binding the galaxy together…no, wait, that’s the Force I’m thinking of. Chopra’s notion of consciousness has more in common with that of the charlatan book The Secret, which says if you just think really hard you can change reality. (A lot of children engage in this magical thinking, but as they mature they outgrow it—apparently with some exceptions.) So perhaps this universal consciousness helped Chopra sense my negative
Re: [FairfieldLife] The madness of Chopra...
Sorry to throw a spanner in here Sue. There might be differences between 'local biological-consciousness' and 'non-local quantum-consciousness'. Biological consciousness is definitely a process. We still don't know what exactly is quantum consciousness if it exists. --- wrote : If you read on thru to the last /14 of the uncertainty blog about Deepak, there is a summary of a debate between a scientist, Sean Carroll, and Eben Alexander, MD (best selling author who claims he went to heaven in a NDE). Here is what jumped out at me: that Carroll said life is a process like fire, not a substance like wood. An obvious and simple distinction. But I think he nails the fundamental "mistake" in thinking. What a shift in thinking for me, especially if I substitute the big C for life. I have always mentally imagined Consciousness as a "thing," even if incredibly refined, subtle, fluid, and all pervasive. I have to apply this new thought to old ideas.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The amazing interconnectedness of all things
A functionality, or organ used for one purpose, is diverted for another purpose is called 'teleological shift'. For instance, the floating bladder in primitive fish became lungs in land animals. Evolution is full of teleological shifts. Even sex which is basicaly used for procreation in most animals, is also used as a bonding mechanism in some animals. Oxytocin, whose original functions is to stimulate contractions of the uterus during labour, to stimulate the ejection of milk during lactation, also became a bonding hormone. --- wrote : Researchers have discovered that a protein which controls anxiety in humans has the same molecular ancestor as one which causes insects to moult when they outgrow their skins. Studies on sea urchins provided the missing link because they have a protein with elements common to those in both humans and insects and reveal a common ancestry hundreds of millions of years ago. Proteins that control anxiety in humans and cause insects to shed their skins have common origin http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150421205546.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150421205546.htm Proteins that control anxiety in humans and cause insect... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150421205546.htm Researchers have discovered that a protein which controls anxiety in humans has the same molecular ancestor as one which causes insects to molt when the... View on www.sciencedaily.com http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150421205546.htm Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: This is what Muslims do and then claim "Isamophobia".
Muslims are encouraged by their clerics to cheat, lie and harm, the people of other religions and other communities. Muslim women encourage their muslim men, to rape the women of other religions and other communities. Any form of supremacist ideology, simply does not fit into a modern egalitarian democracy. --- wrote : Why the World Ignores the Islamist Armenian Genocide by Ben Shapiro http://www.breitbart.com/author/ben-shapiro/24 Apr 2015 Friday marked the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, and President Obama, despite his prior promises to recognize the Armenian Genocide, failed to do so for the seventh straight year. The same week http://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/496476--erdogan-obama-to-open-turkish-mosque-in-us-turkish-fm, the Turkish government announced that Obama would join the Turkish government, led by Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in opening the Turkish-American Culture and Civilization Center in Maryland. Mevlut Cavusoglu, visiting Washington in advance of the commemoration of the Genocide, said, “During a phone call, President Erdogan asked President Obama to accompany him in opening the center together and President Obama accepted his offer in principle.” Cavusoglu then talked about the dangers of Islamophobia. This is a remarkable slap in the face to Armenians, marking the centennial of the Genocide by radical Muslims against Christians. That is the untold story of the Genocide, a story conveniently ignored by the media and forgotten by world governments similarly ignoring atrocities by Muslims against Christians the world over. To understand the Armenian Genocide, one must first understand the history of Turkey, which for centuries was a Christian country; its capital, now named Istanbul by Muslims, was originally named Constantinople after Emperor Constantine and was the most powerful Christian city in on the planet for several centuries. In 1453, the city was conquered by Muslims and became Istanbul and the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Armenia remained Christian, however. As the Ottoman Empire crumbled, despite the fact that other territories gained their independence, Armenia did not. In 1876, Sultan Abdul Hamid II took over dictatorship of the Empire. By 1878, he had signed away Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro; the Balkans were essentially freed of the Ottomans; he lost Egypt and Sudan to the British. By the 1890s, Armenians began demanding reforms. In response, the Sultan gave free reign to Kurdish groups to begin targeting Armenians, and when Armenians responded, the Sultan unleashed the Muslim military against the Armenians. Some 300,000 Armenians were killed. In 1908, under pressure from reformers known as the Young Turks, the Sultan gave up power. But the movement for liberalism lasted only a few years before three Islamist leaders of the Young Turks seized power for themselves, then joined World War I on the side of the Germans. The Three Pashas, as they became known, decided to reconstitute the Empire, freeing it of Christian influence. In precursors to the Genocide, as the Young Turks took power, Islamists began massacring Christian Armenians. At the time, The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/ref/timestopics/topics_armeniangenocide.html reported that the Turks had endorsed a “policy of extermination directed against the Christians of Asia Minor.” Once World War I broke out, the government began openly targeting Armenian Christians under the pretense that they would side with the Russian Christians to the north. As the Times states: The Young Turks, who called themselves the Committee of Unity and Progress, launched a set of measures against the Armenians, including a law authorizing the military and government to deport anyone they “sensed” was a security threat. A later law allowed the confiscation of abandoned Armenian property. Armenians were ordered to turn in any weapons that they owned to the authorities. Those in the army were disarmed and transferred into labor battalions where they were either killed or worked to death. Those policies of disarmament then led to wholescale slaughter, as Turkish troops drove Armenians into the desert to starve – over one million of them, by reports. Children were thrown into rivers to drown; in Trabzond, the US consul, Ascar Heizer, reported: Nearly 3,000 children were installed in empty houses, of which there were many…This plan did not suit Nail Bey, and in about ten days he advertised that any Mahommedan, who wanted to take girls or boys, could apply to these homes and a great many children were taken. He himself chose ten of the best-looking girls and kept them in a house for his own pleasure, and the amusement of his friends. Many of the children were loaded into boats and taken out to sea and thrown overboard. I myself saw where 16 were washed ashore. Villages were burned with residents still inside.
[FairfieldLife] Re: COW
Recent research suggests that we are geneticaly hardwired to follow the herd. It might have aided our survival long ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IJCXXTMrv8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IJCXXTMrv8 http://steadfastfinances.com/blog/2009/11/30/investor-psycho logy-your-brain-is-hardwired-to-follow-the-herd/ http://steadfastfinances.com/blog/2009/11/30/investor-psychology-your-brain-is-hardwired-to-follow-the-herd/ --- wrote : Why would we need to increase the post count? I can't keep up with it as it is. And why in hell would anyone want to form a religion around Barry? My vote is to bury all religions, by raising the level of intelligence of human beings. Darwinian evolution is too slow. Let's genetically engineer our successors. --- wrote : Barry: This meeting of the COW, (Church of Wright) will now come to order. Do we have old business. Xeno, do you have a report of how to increase posting numbers? Xeno: Yes sir. We're trying visiting some of your old haunts on the Rama sites, letting the folks there know that you're now posting here, and open for new subscribers. Barry: Good, good. That's what I like to hear. I want you to stay on it, and go also through the Alt.med achives and see if there are some candidates we should approach. Xeno: Aye, aye sir. Barry: MJ, what's been done to trademark the phrase, “Marshy, Old Goat”? MJ: Working on it sir. There is an expense involved. Barry: Damn the Expense! I want that phrase trademarked, and the sooner the better. Offer some free copies of Roadtrip if you have to, but I want it trademarked. MJ: Yes sir. Barry: Salyavin, my pet, give us our scientific report. Sal: Sir, we are working hard on finding a replacement for nabluss108. I know there has been a void since he has departed and it has upset your highness. Barry: Well double down on that! I'm getting annoyed that we haven't found a suitable replacement. I'll expect a list of candidates by next meeting. Salyavin. HUA!, Heard, understood, acknowledged, sir. Barry: Now, moving on to new business. I am sure you are all aware that this last week has seen the re-emergence of one Judy Stein, aka the Author's Friend. I want to commend you all for coming to my defense when I was brutally attacked by this visitor, who threatened to upset our peaceable kingdom. Xeno, MJ, Salyavin: SIR, YES SIR, WE WILL DEFEND YOUR HONOR, SIR. Barry: (sniffle, sniffle) I knew I could count on you guys. Now remember, only 6 hours and 55 minutes until I release this weeks rant. Get your positive comments lined up. DISMIED!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Machinelike or Random?
--- wrote : No, I'm not converting to Judaism. I just reacted to the words written by Bhairitu based on the issues raised by Carde recently and the cosmological models that have been discussed here for the past week or so. But it is interesting to know what the current Jewish rabbis are thinking about the Jewish role in the Middle East conflict. For both the Jews and Arabs, they blame their mutual animosity on the failure of Jews to perform their duties as the "Chosen People" in the Bible. --- wrote : The fact that any race thinks they are the chosen ones fills me with dread. Someone should point out that it doesn't give you carte blanche to do whatever you like. Believing that god gave you all the land west of the river Jordan doesn't - or shouldn't - make it so. A bit less arrogance on that front might have worked wonders in 1948. --- wrote : A strong case can be made that it is the very existence of this "Chosen People" myth that has caused the ongoing persecution of Jews over the centuries. Historically, the same sort of persecution hounds *any* religious group who consider themselves "special" and "better" than others around them who don't follow their religion. --- wrote : Another miserable twist of fate was that the Jews are the only one of the three main western religions that can lend money with interest. So they were the go-to guys for a loan and obviously it doesn't pay to be soft if you are a money lender, hence all the "Jews are tight with money" stereotypes. In any alternate reality it could have been the others with that particular cross to bear.. This notion that, "we are chosen and special" existed in all cultures, tribes and societies all over the world. According to a yogi, this feeling arose out of a "primitive, insular ignorance." Now that the earth is no longer the center of the universe, most societies have gotten over that idea. Only the Zionists and Jihadists continue to hold that view. Integration is not possible unless this fraudulent world-view is dispelled. They too are apes that came down from the trees in the african savannah.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Machinelike or Random?
--- wrote : No, I'm not converting to Judaism. I just reacted to the words written by Bhairitu based on the issues raised by Carde recently and the cosmological models that have been discussed here for the past week or so. But it is interesting to know what the current Jewish rabbis are thinking about the Jewish role in the Middle East conflict. For both the Jews and Arabs, they blame their mutual animosity on the failure of Jews to perform their duties as the "Chosen People" in the Bible. --- wrote : The fact that any race thinks they are the chosen ones fills me with dread. Someone should point out that it doesn't give you carte blanche to do whatever you like. Believing that god gave you all the land west of the river Jordan doesn't - or shouldn't - make it so. A bit less arrogance on that front might have worked wonders in 1948. --- wrote : A strong case can be made that it is the very existence of this "Chosen People" myth that has caused the ongoing persecution of Jews over the centuries. Historically, the same sort of persecution hounds *any* religious group who consider themselves "special" and "better" than others around them who don't follow their religion. --- wrote : Another miserable twist of fate was that the Jews are the only one of the three main western religions that can lend money with interest. So they were the go-to guys for a loan and obviously it doesn't pay to be soft if you are a money lender, hence all the "Jews are tight with money" stereotypes. In any alternate reality it could have been the others with that particular cross to bear.. This notion that, "we are chosen and special" existed in all cultures, tribes and societies all over the world. According to a yogi, this feeling arose out of a "primitive, insular ignorance." Now that the earth is no longer the center of the universe, most societies have gotten over that idea. Only the Zionists and Jihadists continue to hold that view. Integration is not possible unless this fraudulent world-view is dispelled. They too are apes that came down from the trees in the african savannah.
[FairfieldLife] Machinelike or Random?
This is a little difficult to explain, but I'll try. When you perform an action, the karmic rebound is certain. However, when, where and how that rebound will occur cannot be predicted as existence itself does not know about it. There is an element of randomness here that is difficult to comprehend and is unexplainable. If you study evolution carefully, you will notice that evolution itself is partially deterministic and partially random. There is a broad set of laws and yet randomness plays a part. --- wrote : That is of course Share, a logical contradiction; hence, false. A statement like this acts as a metaphor for a certain way of understanding how the universe runs, provided you can penetrate the metaphor for its real significance. What has determinism? What has free will? Since they are diametrically opposed in function, what could this mean, if it means anything at all? Since the statement is literally untrue, why does it feel right to you? Is that feeling correct, or is it based on some hidden assumption which allows you accept a falsehood. --- wrote : ...I heard Maharishi say: 100% determinism and 100% free will. That feels right to me.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Machinelike or Random?
Xeno, let's use a little logic here. If you existed before you were born, you will continue to exist after you die. If you didn't exist before you were born, you will not exist after you die. The law of karma or balance is a very subtle law, compared to other gross laws of physics. That's why it's not apparent to most people. You lifting a pen could be action, and you putting it down could be reaction. The point is, time lag for these actions can differ. Coming to your point, if there is no such thing as reincarnation, existence would be totally meaningless, nature unfair, and God if it exists a lunatic. The determinism of the classical universe and the randomness of the quantum universe, complement and balance each other. As you pointed out, randomness itself is statistically constrained. Which means there was no intention behind the big bang itself. --- wrote : Share & Jason Share, I do believe you never consider anything as a statement of logic. Settling for the sense of it on resonance, which is really a subtle sense of feeling allows one to bypass figuring out what it might mean. If beyond thought and feeling, that puts it beyond understanding. I myself do not think much about this any more, but it comes up time to time. A contradiction (con = against, & diction = speech) is a statement that says x is so and x is not so at the same time, which is nonsense. Jason's response shows more analysis. Determinism is the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will. While free will is the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion. This sets individuality against the universe. The universe can be regarded as having either natural laws which mindlessly govern activity in a mechanical fashion, or as having an intentional stance, having a mind which determines action through will, such as gods are supposed to have. Individual will is an intentional stance that opposes universal laws or the activity of the gods. One can question whether the universe as a whole has will in the intentional stance sense, because proving gods (1 or more) exist seems out of the question. That nature's activity seems rather overpowering in a deterministic sense is pretty obvious, but why that is is not. Quantum mechanics shows us a certain proportion of indeterminacy on a microscopic scale. This is not apparent on the macroscopic scale, but it seems to mean things will never repeat themselves in quite the same way but the variations on the macroscopic scale will be subtle to say the least. The chance, or randomness of particle interaction is not will because there seems to be no intention behind it, it just happens. It is also constrained statistically so it cannot be said to be free either. Recent experiments with the human brain seem to show our sense of will is illusory, that the brain comes to make certain kinds of decisions in a mechanical way, and the results of this 'decision' comes into awareness after the fact, often seconds, as much as seven seconds after the fact. That means consciousness is passive, and does nothing, since it does not know what is happening until after the deed is done. This could hardly be said to be the activity of will. If anything, it is a demonstration of the effect of universal determinism, unless we conclude that micro quantum events introduce an element of chance. But has we note, chance is not a constrained by the concept of will, it bypasses will altogether, but is statistically constrained, which in a sense means its effect is at least partially determined, it is not free in the sense of unconstrained, its functioning is not at its own discretion. Chance has no mind. So we are left with mechanical determined universal action without an intentional stance behind it, both for the universe and for us, but we have the idea in our heads, that we have an intentional stance, even if it is not really there. And then there is that throw of the quantum dice, which prevents us from ever figuring out exactly what is happening when we look deeply into the matter. As for the concept of karmic rebound, not sure how that works or if it exists. If something happens, then something else happens because things are interconnected. I just lifted a pen off my desk, and then put it back down on the desk. What is the karmic rebound here? I have no idea what that would mean in this situation. Suppose a universe in which each person lives, and dies, and is not immortal and vanishes forever at death (kind of like ours). Suppose this person commits a murder in this universe, and is never caught, never even suspected, and this person subsequently lives a happy life filled with joy until he/she dies. What is the karmic rebound in this situation? --- wrote : This is a little difficult to explain, but I'll try. When you pe
[FairfieldLife] Re: Machinelike or Random?
Xeno, let's use a little logic here. If you existed before you were born, you will continue to exist after you die. If you didn't exist before you were born, you will not exist after you die. The law of karma or balance is a very subtle law, compared to other gross laws of physics. That's why it's not apparent to most people. You lifting a pen could be action, and you putting it down could be reaction. The point is, time lag for these actions can differ. Coming to your point, if there is no such thing as reincarnation, existence would be totally meaningless, nature unfair, and God if it exists a lunatic. The determinism of the classical universe and the randomness of the quantum universe, complement and balance each other. As you pointed out, randomness itself is statistically constrained. Which means there was no intention behind the big bang itself. --- wrote : Share & Jason Share, I do believe you never consider anything as a statement of logic. Settling for the sense of it on resonance, which is really a subtle sense of feeling allows one to bypass figuring out what it might mean. If beyond thought and feeling, that puts it beyond understanding. I myself do not think much about this any more, but it comes up time to time. A contradiction (con = against, & diction = speech) is a statement that says x is so and x is not so at the same time, which is nonsense. Jason's response shows more analysis. Determinism is the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will. While free will is the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion. This sets individuality against the universe. The universe can be regarded as having either natural laws which mindlessly govern activity in a mechanical fashion, or as having an intentional stance, having a mind which determines action through will, such as gods are supposed to have. Individual will is an intentional stance that opposes universal laws or the activity of the gods. One can question whether the universe as a whole has will in the intentional stance sense, because proving gods (1 or more) exist seems out of the question. That nature's activity seems rather overpowering in a deterministic sense is pretty obvious, but why that is is not. Quantum mechanics shows us a certain proportion of indeterminacy on a microscopic scale. This is not apparent on the macroscopic scale, but it seems to mean things will never repeat themselves in quite the same way but the variations on the macroscopic scale will be subtle to say the least. The chance, or randomness of particle interaction is not will because there seems to be no intention behind it, it just happens. It is also constrained statistically so it cannot be said to be free either. Recent experiments with the human brain seem to show our sense of will is illusory, that the brain comes to make certain kinds of decisions in a mechanical way, and the results of this 'decision' comes into awareness after the fact, often seconds, as much as seven seconds after the fact. That means consciousness is passive, and does nothing, since it does not know what is happening until after the deed is done. This could hardly be said to be the activity of will. If anything, it is a demonstration of the effect of universal determinism, unless we conclude that micro quantum events introduce an element of chance. But has we note, chance is not a constrained by the concept of will, it bypasses will altogether, but is statistically constrained, which in a sense means its effect is at least partially determined, it is not free in the sense of unconstrained, its functioning is not at its own discretion. Chance has no mind. So we are left with mechanical determined universal action without an intentional stance behind it, both for the universe and for us, but we have the idea in our heads, that we have an intentional stance, even if it is not really there. And then there is that throw of the quantum dice, which prevents us from ever figuring out exactly what is happening when we look deeply into the matter. As for the concept of karmic rebound, not sure how that works or if it exists. If something happens, then something else happens because things are interconnected. I just lifted a pen off my desk, and then put it back down on the desk. What is the karmic rebound here? I have no idea what that would mean in this situation. Suppose a universe in which each person lives, and dies, and is not immortal and vanishes forever at death (kind of like ours). Suppose this person commits a murder in this universe, and is never caught, never even suspected, and this person subsequently lives a happy life filled with joy until he/she dies. What is the karmic rebound in this situation? --- wrote : This is a little difficult to explain, but I'll try. When you p
[FairfieldLife] Re: Machinelike or Random?
Stop this bullshit willytex. No referendum was held in that territory. God is not a real estate dealer. The UN stole that land from indigenous people. They called other communities dogs for centuries. "But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter." (Mark 7:25-26). "And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." (Mark 7:27). The Jews called the Gentiles "dogs" in the same way we would call someone a "bitch" (Matthew 7:6; Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15). It was a term of contempt. --- wrote : According to what I've read, so-called "non-Zionist" Jews are pleased that Israel exists from a practical standpoint--as a haven for oppressed Jews and as a land imbued with holiness well-suited for Torah study. But they don't generally assign religious significance to the formation of the modern state, and often decry aspects of its secular culture. Zionism is used in the strict sense of the Jews should have a homeland, preferably Israel (Israel is where "Zion" is, hence Zionism). Criticizing today's Israeli government regarding policies is not the same as anti-Zionism. -- wrote : Jason, There are still Jews who consider themselves as the "Chosen People" here in the USA. They may or may not be Zioneists. Nonetheless, they follow several hundred laws relating to food, behavior and worship. They still frown upon intermarriage with outsiders or goyim. I've posted the videos of Rabbis Kraft and Mizrachi and you should watch them for verification. And they don't definitely consider themselves descendants of apes from Africa. --- wrote : No, I'm not converting to Judaism. I just reacted to the words written by Bhairitu based on the issues raised by Carde recently and the cosmological models that have been discussed here for the past week or so. But it is interesting to know what the current Jewish rabbis are thinking about the Jewish role in the Middle East conflict. For both the Jews and Arabs, they blame their mutual animosity on the failure of Jews to perform their duties as the "Chosen People" in the Bible. --- wrote : The fact that any race thinks they are the chosen ones fills me with dread. Someone should point out that it doesn't give you carte blanche to do whatever you like. Believing that god gave you all the land west of the river Jordan doesn't - or shouldn't - make it so. A bit less arrogance on that front might have worked wonders in 1948. --- wrote : A strong case can be made that it is the very existence of this "Chosen People" myth that has caused the ongoing persecution of Jews over the centuries. Historically, the same sort of persecution hounds *any* religious group who consider themselves "special" and "better" than others around them who don't follow their religion. --- wrote : Another miserable twist of fate was that the Jews are the only one of the three main western religions that can lend money with interest. So they were the go-to guys for a loan and obviously it doesn't pay to be soft if you are a money lender, hence all the "Jews are tight with money" stereotypes. In any alternate reality it could have been the others with that particular cross to bear.. --- wrote : This notion that, "we are chosen and special" existed in all cultures, tribes and societies all over the world. According to a yogi, this feeling arose out of a "primitive, insular ignorance." Now that the earth is no longer the center of the universe, most societies have gotten over that idea. Only the Zionists and Jihadists continue to hold that view. Integration is not possible unless this fraudulent world-view is dispelled. They too are apes that came down from the trees in the african savannah.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Machinelike or Random?
--- wrote : This is not necessarily so. Comments in your text. I'd like to riff on this. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Xeno, let's use a little logic here. If you existed before you were born, you will continue to exist after you die. If you didn't exist before you were born, you will not exist after you die. There are multiple possibilities here: 1. You could exist before you were born, be born and live, then die and not exist. That's what happens when, what eastern phil call enlightenment happens. 2. You could exist before you were born, be born and live, then die and exist. That's reincarnation, crux of the eastern phil. 3. You could exist before you were born, be stillborn dead, and then exist. 4. You could exist before you were born, be stillborn dead, and then not exist. 5. You could not exist before you were born, be born and live, and then die and not exist. If there is no such thing as individual jiva, a bundle of subtle vasanas, yes. 6. You could not exist before you were born, be born and live, and then die and exist Yes, but you still would have to cease at some point. That which has a beginning must have an end. 7. You could not exist before you were born, be stillborn and dead, and then exist. 8. You could not exist before you were born, be stillborn and dead, and then not exist. (This last one is a real bummer, but of course you would never know) An infinite regress and infinite progress of incarnations is not possible. All things have a beginning and an end. The reverse of this is your point no. 5. In both the scenarios, there is no hope of enlightenment. In the first scenario you are in eternal bondage. In the second scenario, your condition though hopeless, is comparatively more merciful. What is not so clear is how these various scenarios could work out to be true. Simply saying there is a law of karma and that it is 'subtler' than the laws of physics. is just a way of avoiding describing how the whole thing works, and whether there is any evidence that could support the idea. The laws of physics describe things that are far beyond the ability of the human nervous system to perceive or feel or even experience, but they are not necessarily beyond the ability of machines to detect, which allows us to experience those things by proxy as a mental construct, but never directly. Karma is the theory of cause and effect, action and reaction. In other words it's balance. Yes, no direct proof, but the fact that you exist and have all these experiences should make you ponder. First of all, what does one mean when we use the word 'you'. Is it the same 'you' before birth, at birth and in life, and after death, or what? The experience of, or perhaps, the knowledge of, being as an undefined attribute-less substratum of all existence that remains before, during, and after bodies are born and perish might be considered one's existence, but it then excludes the life of the body with its mental panorama and personality (what we normally consider a person) as being what the 'you' really are. That personality is not what is maintained throughout birth and death in this case. In this case 'you' is your self or being. On the other hand if what people normally consider a person is is somehow maintained through the mill of birth and death, the 'you' that we usually mean when we talk to someone, how does that happen? How is the essence of that personality stored in between births, and where is it stored, and how is it reconstituted? This all seems extraordinarily vague to me; people tell me it does, and leave it at that, which means they do not know otherwise they could explain it. My view of birth and death is this: All things that exist have being. Being is an abstract principle that all things, individually and collectively (that is, the universe as a whole) have. Being is equivalent of having existence, no matter what kind or how. It is totally obvious, anything that exists has being. It is a definition. When the human mind and senses experience an aspect of this being and loses sight as it were, of the connectivity of existence, the totality of all the separate beings together, it experiences this aspect of being as a separate object or thing, and thus the being, which appears to have the property of consciousness under certain circumstances (such as when an aspect of being is a nervous system complex enough to have senses and a decent CPU, is 'born' as that object, not because something is happening, but because the perception and knowledge of timeless eternity is lost in that perception. If the totality of being is not lost in perception and knowledge, then nothing is born or dies. So the reality or non reality of birth and death is really just a matter of how narrow or wide perception and knowledge is. The enlightened being sees continuit
[FairfieldLife] Re: Machinelike or Random?
By the logical extension of your own argument, the entire north america should be handed over to the Red Indians. They were the original inhabitants of the Americas. Many ethnic groups all over the world don't have a seperate country of their own. That is not necessary either. The Ashkanaz jews were central asian converts and they never lived in Israel. They are the ones who migrated to europe. Besides, there was never any need to partition the territory. A special arrangement could have been made for those sephardim jews who wanted to settle down there, without disturbing the indigenous people who were already there. --- wrote : You need to read some history books. The people of Judea were there long before the Arabs invaded the land and tried to kill all the Jews. Do you have any historical evidence that proves the Arabs were in Judea before it was called Judea? I think not. Judea and Samaria is the West Bank! They don't call it the 'Land of Judea' for nothing! Human settlement in Judea stretches back to the Stone Age. The Israelites lived in Jericho, back in 1025 B.C. It's a fact of history that this land was invaded by the Arabs in 636 A.D. "The prevailing opinion today is that the Israelites, who eventually evolved into the modern Jews and Samaritans, are an outgrowth of the indigenous Canaanites who had resided in the area since the 8th millennium BCE." Israelites - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites Israelites - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites The Israelites (/ˈɪzriəˌlaɪts, -reɪ-/)[1] were a Semitic people of the Ancient Near East, who inhabited part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods (15th... View on en.wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites Preview by Yahoo --- wrote : Stop this bullshit willytex. No referendum was held in that territory. God is not a real estate dealer. The UN stole that land from indigenous people. They called other communities dogs for centuries. "But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter." (Mark 7:25-26). "And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." (Mark 7:27). The Jews called the Gentiles "dogs" in the same way we would call someone a "bitch" (Matthew 7:6; Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15). It was a term of contempt. --- wrote : According to what I've read, so-called "non-Zionist" Jews are pleased that Israel exists from a practical standpoint--as a haven for oppressed Jews and as a land imbued with holiness well-suited for Torah study. But they don't generally assign religious significance to the formation of the modern state, and often decry aspects of its secular culture. Zionism is used in the strict sense of the Jews should have a homeland, preferably Israel (Israel is where "Zion" is, hence Zionism). Criticizing today's Israeli government regarding policies is not the same as anti-Zionism. -- wrote : Jason, There are still Jews who consider themselves as the "Chosen People" here in the USA. They may or may not be Zioneists. Nonetheless, they follow several hundred laws relating to food, behavior and worship. They still frown upon intermarriage with outsiders or goyim. I've posted the videos of Rabbis Kraft and Mizrachi and you should watch them for verification. And they don't definitely consider themselves descendants of apes from Africa. --- wrote : No, I'm not converting to Judaism. I just reacted to the words written by Bhairitu based on the issues raised by Carde recently and the cosmological models that have been discussed here for the past week or so. But it is interesting to know what the current Jewish rabbis are thinking about the Jewish role in the Middle East conflict. For both the Jews and Arabs, they blame their mutual animosity on the failure of Jews to perform their duties as the "Chosen People" in the Bible. --- wrote : The fact that any race thinks they are the chosen ones fills me with dread. Someone should point out that it doesn't give you carte blanche to do whatever you like. Believing that god gave you all the land west of the river Jordan doesn't - or shouldn't - make it so. A bit less arrogance on that front might have worked wonders in 1948. --- wrote : A strong case can be made that it is the very existence of this "Chosen People" myth that has caused the ongoing persecution of Jews over the centuries. Historically, the same sort of persecution hounds *any* religious group who consider themselves "special" and "better" than others around them who don't follow t
[FairfieldLife] Re: Machinelike or Random?
According to you, all the quantum physicists are lazy? I suppose assuming about spirits and soul, is hard scientific work? You sure are a hard ass. --- wrote : just say We don't know but the event is analyzable . . . then go home and have dinner with the SO. Instead of calling it 'random' - which is just woo for science folks who are afraid the conversation might degrade into talking about spirits or the soul.But then, I'm a hard ass : ) Claiming some event is random just means the event is too complicated and we don't understand it yet. So there is no calling a thing random, that is only being lazy.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Netanyahu Invites Jewish Exodus Out of Europe
The purpose of religion is to refine man, and prevent him from acting from his primitive animal nature. Islam, on the other hand seems to have achieved the opposite. Islam has unleashed the savage animal passions in man. Islam is basicaly a pseudo-spiritual, quasi-political ideology. It's attempt to describe reality is crude and childish. It is as much error ridden as christianity. Jihadi supremacy is as dangerous as Nazism. It's something that we have to deal with. Islam openly encourages it's followers to kill other religionists and other communities. --- wrote : All this tells us is how useless religion is and why it should be relegated to museums. There might well be peace in the world if you could erase religion and greed from the minds of humans. On 02/16/2015 01:46 PM, jr_esq@... mailto:jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: The short answer is that bombs are falling in Syria and Iraq by the hands of an American coalition of countries from Europe and neighboring Arab countries. However, if you connect the dots, most Arabs will see the dots leading to Israel. And IS is hell-bent on continuing the fight to the surrounding countries in the hope of creating a caliphate, which undoubtedly will punish the Jews for being in their land if they're successful in their quest. IMO, the best scenario is that all of the nations of the world would ban the existence of IS, al_Qaeda and other rebels of the same ilk, in their own countries and the rest of the world. But it may take years to subdue them. --- mailto:richard@... wrote : The Arabs came over from Sheba and forced the Jews to leave their ancestral home. So, if karma plays a part in the dispute, the Arabs should probably go back to where they came from, Arabia. They don't call the land "Judah" for nothing. If we are going to re-draw the lines in the sand so everyone can have "their" land, why not let the Tibetan's have their land too? After all, it's the Tibetans that live in Tibet and speak Tibetan - they don't call it China Land and speak Mandarin. But in fact, the so-called "Palestinians" are Jordanians in the West Bank and Egyptians in Gaza. So, I wonder why they aren't citizens of Jordan or Egypt? Go figure. --- mailto:jr_esq@... wrote : A few years ago, Jimmy Carter tried to get the world's attention about the Palestinian rights to their land. But nobody is doing anything about it. This probably contributes to the Arabs' hatred for the Jews. But both sides already know they can't get along with each other. There is probably a karmic explanation for it. It appears to be ingrained in their DNA too. The ebb and flow of their relationship perhaps show how the Chosen People are favored or punished for their actions by the Unified Field. IMO, we are watching the continuing saga of the people in the Old Testament. They've been doing this drama for all of recorded time. And many Christians are involved in this by believing that Armageddon will soon arrive. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote : --- mailto:jr_esq@... wrote : He may be reading the times and afraid of further persecutions similar to what happened during WWII. Yes, they can persecute the Palestinians instead. Apparently another 2000 Palestinian homes are being destroyed on the West Bank this week to make way for Jewish settlers. They'll steal the whole place before they are done and the world will sit back wringing its hands, too scared of being called anti-semitic to dare criticise Israel as it finishes the job of ethnic cleansing it started in 1948. Netanyahu urges Jews to move to Israel after Copenhagen attacks Netanyahu urges Jews to move to Israel after Copen... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged European Jews to move to Israel after a Jewish man was killed in an attack outside Copenh... View on news.yahoo.com Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: Corruption - a problem for johnny foreigner
The causes of corruption in the bureaucratic system is different from that of the political system. In the political system, it's simple. Parties needs funds to function. If the state doesn't fund them, the vested interests step in to fund them. In the bureaucratic system it's different. Time-bound delivery of 'goods and services' is one of the fundamental principles of capitalism. The buyer has a time limit beyond which he is not interested. Government agencies due to certain monopolies don't operate under this principle. Special legislation is needed to force these agencies to work under this principle. Stupid americans don't understand that economic system and political system, function under different set of rules. 80% percent of europe have socialised their political system. Scandinavians started doing this way back in the 70's. --- wrote : What you are saying specifically about the Philippines may well be so. (And if so, it indeed sounds like a Herculean task to overcome the problems.) But consider southern Europe - Italy and Greece are joint #69 on the corruption list! In Greece, poverty, lack of education, and lack of a common language are not factors. The average material standard of living was quite high during the debt-fuelled boom. Greece has twice as many teachers per pupil than the UK! But corruption and tax fiddling are endemic across all classes. It's a cultural thing and it's not going to go away in our lifetimes. --- wrote : Most of the third world countries are corrupt due to poverty, lack of education, and lack of a common language. Their leaders are only after the benefit for themselves and their own clan. It takes a while for the truly democratic process to take hold. For example, the Philippines is now a fairly well educated country but the government is corrupt. IMO, it's due to a lack of common language and cultural ties. Specifically, the country has about 80 languages and the people still identify themselves to their own clan or people who belong to the same island or language group. As such, the people who work in government has no allegiance or sense of integrity to the central government. Hence, they try to cheat the government in one way or another through graft and corruption. The people are well aware of the problem. But it's a herculean task to clean up a government that's inefficient and the national culture itself.. IMO, the problem also shows in the national chart which is based on the time of its independence from the USA. An exalted Rahu is placed in the 9th house representing the government and religion. In jyotish, Rahu is a demon and is very unpredictable. --- wrote : CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX 2014 have published a map and table showing the rankings of the world's nations revealing how corrupt they are. Now here's a thing - in the Top 20 places (least corrupt) no less than 9 are ex-British colonies (let's include the UK). 5 are our (the UK's) northern European neighbours in Scandinavia. Another 5 are our close western European neighbours Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany. And only 1 is from far, far away - Japan. I wonder why that should be the case . . ? http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results
[FairfieldLife] Re: Oh great! GMO apples approved for growing in the US
Lack of diversity can kill us. Any form of monoculture is dangerous. Nature uses diversity as an insurance to ensure that species survive capricious environmental changes and diseases. Scientists say that the Irish potato famine was caused by monoculture. http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/agriculture _02 http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/agriculture_02 --- wrote : Even hybrid seed producers use a tactic of creating seeds that do not perform well if the seeds from the crop are used, protecting their investment. The problem with poorer countries with GMO crops is just this — sharing seeds, or using seeds harvested from GMO crops. However GMO seeds from GMO crops are used under license. Monsanto says they have sued 147 farmers out of 325,000 customers in the United States for patent infringement. I personally think GMO crops could have potential dangers, but the TMO doesn't want them because they want to sell their mumbo-jumbo farming techniques, which so far do not seem to have any kind of scientific track record for improved yield or food quality or cost benefits over conventional organic farming techniques. I also think lack of diversity will be a big problem. This happened even before GMO technology, or even hybridising crops because we select what we like to eat and want to grow it without a lot of trouble. --- wrote : Thing is companies do this genetic modification because they are desperate for making money. And if they don't do it then someone else will and then their stockholders will be in an uproar. The real beast is capitalism. --- wrote : Exactly. I think the thing that worries me most about GMO's is that the world food supply ends up in the hands of bio-tech companies. Farmers in the third world have already been sued for sharing last years seeds among themselves rather than buying new ones from the manufacturer, along with the pesticides they are designed to work with. Keeping food strains strong via interbreeding by sharing seeds will be a thing of the past in our brave new monoculture world. On 02/16/2015 11:33 AM, Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartaxius@... mailto:anartaxius@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: They modified the plant to stop producing an enzyme that makes the apple to turn brown. Just think, if we could do that to people, we could stop discrimination based on skin colour. I would not worry though, humans are exceptionally creative in finding things for disliking other people. There are many ways to produce 'new' organisms. With genetic engineering one can mimic things like cross breeding, or (and this is where the real potential for danger comes in) mimic natural mutation, or inserting genes from other species, or creating entirely synthetic genes. I think a glow in the dark 'spiritual' gene that activates when a person believes a spiritual philosophy with too great a percentage of gullibility would help identify people one might want to avoid, as the conversation with such would tend to be repetitive without progress. Not of much use here though. From: "Bhairitu noozguru@... mailto:noozguru@... [FairfieldLife]" mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, February 16, 2015 5:37 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Oh great! GMO apples approved for growing in the US Just what you've been waiting for: an apple that doesn't turn brown. GMO labeling needs to be federally mandated. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/business/gmo-apples-are-approved-for-growing-in-us.html?_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/business/gmo-apples-are-approved-for-growing-in-us.html?_r=1
[FairfieldLife] Stamp Scrip can save Greece?
Hey Bhairitu, this article says 'stamp scrip' would have sorted out the great depression of the 30's in three weeks time. Monbiot says two ideas are proposed for Greece. One is restrict the credit giving capacity of banks. The other is 'stamp scrip' which did wonders in Austria. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/17/ currency-scheme-1930s-save-greek-economy-eurozone-crisis http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/17/currency-scheme-1930s-save-greek-economy-eurozone-crisis
[FairfieldLife] Re: Suffer little children..
Both, 'crass religionism' and 'crass commercialism' harm people, hurt children, reduce women to second class citizens. In fact, 'crass religionism' is as dangerous as 'crass commercialism' It's a fact that parents teach a lot of shit to children. But then, so do the government to people. Systemic defects in the political structure need to be corrected. Perhaps, the constitution itself needs to modified to be in tune with 'scientific realism' and rationalism. --- wrote : The depressing part is that this scenario -- endangering the life of a child because of one's beliefs -- is what we've been talking about re the "anti-vaxers," only worse. In this case, the parents endangered only their own children. Opponents of vaccination endanger whole populations. --- wrote : Yes indeed, evolution will go backwards again, make no mistake. The saddest bit of the article for me was that "Followers of Christ" cemetery where 35% of the graves were those of newborn children. In the 21st century. Awful. --- wrote : Depressing little article about religious "privilege", but fascinating that this carries on so far into the 21st century in the world's richest, smartest country... Faith-Healer Parents Who Let Their Child Die Should Go to Jail http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121187/idahos-christy-perry-defends-followers-christ-religious-exemption http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121187/idahos-christy-perry-defends-followers-christ-religious-exemption Faith-Healer Parents Who Let Their Child Die Should Go to ... http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121187/idahos-christy-perry-defends-followers-christ-religious-exemption And yet, most U.S. states have exemptions for parents who withhold m... View on www.newrepublic.com http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121187/idahos-christy-perry-defends-followers-christ-religious-exemption Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: Yet more cult insanity..
Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro also did that. We know very little about the Aztec and Incan civilisations because all the artifacts were melted down into gold bar. They were deemed as works of the devil. The library of Alexandria was destroyed by Amr, by the order of the Caliph Omar. It is considered as one of the biggest acts of vandalism in history. It's reported to contained 8 million books and scrolls. It was earlier destroyed by the order of Emperor Theodosius I in 391. The university of Nalanda was destroyed in 1200 AC by Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turkish invader. He demolished the university and over 9 million books and manuscripts were burnt down. All the buddhist monks residing in the university were slaughtered. Islam is a vicious, licentious, treacherous, murderous religious ideology. Any religion that proclaims "kill all jews, kill all christians", is an insane ideology. --- wrote : Re "Something especially depressing about this desecration of the ancient world": My feelings also. I tremble to think of the reaction here in the UK if some crackpot Islamists started destroying precious British cultural survivals - say by blowing up Stonehenge or a medieval church. --- wrote : Yeah, I know they've brutally killed thousands of innocent people and are medieval in their treatment of women, but there's something especially depressing about this desecration of the ancient world. These maniacs destroy our knowledge of our own civilisation's past and where we came from. Beautiful beyond price these artefacts will never be seen again, they are gone from the world and all so a bunch of crazed zombies can feel they are conforming best to their own religious programming. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-militants-continue-path-of-destruction-in-hatra-by-demolishing-2000-yearold-ruins-10093159.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-militants-continue-path-of-destruction-in-hatra-by-demolishing-2000-yearold-ruins-10093159.html
[FairfieldLife] Re: Suffer little children..
> --- wrote : > > --- wrote : > > Both, 'crass religionism' and 'crass commercialism' harm > > people, hurt children, reduce women to second class > > citizens. > Non sequitur. > > In fact, 'crass religionism' is as dangerous as 'crass > > commercialism' > Non sequitur. > > It's a fact that parents teach a lot of shit to children. > > But then, so do the government to people. Systemic defects > > in the political structure need to be corrected. > > Perhaps, the constitution itself needs to modified to be in > > tune with 'scientific realism' and rationalism. > --- wrote : > Nobody wants to be told what to do by the federal government, least of all > how they should raise their own children. It's just not the American way. The > rules and laws that would regulate self-medication should be made by the > state (the people) and not dictated by the federal government. It's not > complicated. > Freedom of choice is based on the U.S. Bill of Rights. Listen to me carefully, you silly willy nilly, willytex punditster or serious_richard or whatever you are. Religion has a moral code. The nation-state Republic has a moral-code. If there is a clash between the two, the 'moral code' of the Republic should take precedence over other 'moral codes'. A distinction should be made between 'religious faith' and 'religious practices'. The State gives guarantee only for one's religious faith. If any 'religious practice' goes against public order, public health, public morality, then that religious practice should be curbed and eradicated. Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism underwent some reformation process. But its not complete. Change is the nature of the universe. --- wrote : The depressing part is that this scenario -- endangering the life of a child because of one's beliefs -- is what we've been talking about re the "anti-vaxers," only worse. In this case, the parents endangered only their own children. Opponents of vaccination endanger whole populations. --- wrote : Yes indeed, evolution will go backwards again, make no mistake. The saddest bit of the article for me was that "Followers of Christ" cemetery where 35% of the graves were those of newborn children. In the 21st century. Awful. --- wrote : Depressing little article about religious "privilege", but fascinating that this carries on so far into the 21st century in the world's richest, smartest country... Faith-Healer Parents Who Let Their Child Die Should Go to Jail http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121187/idahos-christy-perry-defends-followers-christ-religious-exemption http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121187/idahos-christy-perry-defends-followers-christ-religious-exemption Faith-Healer Parents Who Let Their Child Die Should Go to ... http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121187/idahos-christy-perry-defends-followers-christ-religious-exemption And yet, most U.S. states have exemptions for parents who withhold m... View on www.newrepublic.com http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121187/idahos-christy-perry-defends-followers-christ-religious-exemption Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: Can Atheists be Allied with Believers?
Atheists have a much better understanding of the importance of 'family values' and 'community values' than any religionists on this planet. We as proto-humans, lived in small groups for 2 million years, and we as humans still lived in small groups as hunter gatherers for 800,000 years. We lived as small agricultural communities for 14,000 years. The average size of a hunter gatherer band was 40-50 people. The average size of an agricultural community was 200 to 300 people. Humans are basicaly pair-bonding species because it enables the offspring to survive better. Humans are not evolved to have sexual relationships with strangers, that is total strangers. Some social bonding is required. People indulging in high risk life-style, are infected with Toxoplasma gondii. Race-car drivers, sky-divers, Libertines, sucide bombers, Jihadists, religious fanatics, etc. That includes faux-atheists like Barry. Don't listen to him. I repeat, atheists have a much clearer understanding of the importance of family values and community values. You see a wide range of cooperation in the animal kingdom itself. --- wrote : This author thinks so. He thinks atheism is another form of tribalism. What do you think? Atheists’ self-defeating superiority: Why joining forces with religion is best for non-believers http://www.salon.com/2015/03/22/atheists_self_defeating_superiority_why_joining_forces_with_progressive_religion_is_best_for_non_believers/ http://www.salon.com/2015/03/22/atheists_self_defeating_superiority_why_joining_forces_with_progressive_religion_is_best_for_non_believers/ Atheists’ self-defeating superiority: Why joining forces w... http://www.salon.com/2015/03/22/atheists_self_defeating_superiority_why_joining_forces_with_progressive_religion_is_best_for_non_believers/ Prominent atheists like Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins judge people of f... View on www.salon.com http://www.salon.com/2015/03/22/atheists_self_defeating_superiority_why_joining_forces_with_progressive_religion_is_best_for_non_believers/ Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
No, it's not just about money. It's about our survival as a species. It's also about competition, the Russians and the Chinese are not going to stay static. To calculate the folding structure of a single protein would take one billion years, for all the super-computers on earth combined, right now. A quantum computer would do that in a few minutes time. Communism has no moral compass either. It breeds sloth, incompetency, inefficiency, kills merit, encourages mediocrity, sloppiness etc etc. I am sure you wouldn't like to live in those old commie countries. It is inevitable that we eventualy go off this planet. It's the only way that we can survive as a specie. Many cosmic disasters have hit earth and will continue to do so. We merging with AI is the next step in evolution. --- wrote : Blame capitalism. It's all about the money. All the tech companies care about is making money because if they don't then their stock will fall and the stockholders will complain. So there is no moral compass asking what is the long term effects of the project they are working on. We could probably just stop or slow where we are with technology and be fine for the next several hundred years. On 03/24/2015 11:04 AM, jr_esq@... mailto:jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: He agrees with Hawking and others that AI is not good for humans. https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/steve-wozniak-future-ai-scary-154700881.html https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/steve-wozniak-future-ai-scary-154700881.html
[FairfieldLife] Re: Another X-ian nut from Texas running for Pres?
You mean like this? Buddhist economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful Once the State starts funding political parties, better quality politicians will start coming into the system. Another problem is, fraudulent religions with their insane philosophies, shaping political policies is bound to be disastrous. There is a difference between a state that recognizes all religions, and a state that recognizes no religion. The state should not recognize any religion. --- wrote : Uh Turq, Iceland's entire population is less than the county I live in. So it wasn't hard for them to do what they did with the banksters. In fact in this county our commissioners gave themselves a 30% raise and it was met with public ire and they had to rescind it and give themselves just a 7% one instead. And they better not be on the ballot next time either. I frequently argue that if you want change in the US you need to start from the bottom up. Start by changing your local government. A lot of cities like this one and the neighboring Vallejo are run by a few opportunistic creeps. Vallejo had to declare bankruptcy but the town is primarily owned by three old families who of course are conservative and stodgy as rocks. All they care about is their pocketbook and nobody else's. This town is run by a group of real estate agents so you can understand their agenda which we have to often fight. We did manage to get one new council member who isn't a real estate agent this last election. Once the public controls their local city then the county is next then the state and then maybe if this is done across the country the federal government can be revised. But there is a lot of work to be done. For one thing we need to get rid of "too big to fail" businesses. Not just banks but the telecoms too. And we need to eliminate the disease called billionairitis. That's far easier to cure than cancer. Just relieve them of their huge wealth tumor. They can't handle that much wealth. Only allow estates of a few million dollars and companies of limited size. And while we're at it we can really streamline what government we need and start by throwing out a lot of dated laws that never get repealed as new ones are made. On 03/23/2015 09:09 AM, TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... mailto:turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Nice post. I'd comment, but I'm so disgusted at what passes for politics in the land of my birth these days that I dare not for fear of offending someone. Instead, here's my *positive* suggestion for how to "fix" America and make it whole again. First, trash the Constitution and the current electoral system and go out and hire some fuckin' professionals instead of all these amateurs. Go to Iceland -- a country that managed to create leaders who actually stood up to the Banksters and the 1% and made their country economically sound again -- and hire these people who've actually DONE THAT as consultants, for a four-year contract. Pay them handsomely -- nay, extravagantly, so there is no fear of them trying to supplement their income through graft -- and just let them do their thing. Throw out the current Executive branch and Legislative branches of U.S. government, and allow these seasoned professionals to actually RUN THINGS for a four-year period. They get to do whatever they think is necessary to fix the economic and social ills of America. At the end of four years, offer the American people a choice of whether they'd prefer to go back to the old system, or continue on with professionals running things. From: "anartaxius@... [FairfieldLife]" mailto:anartaxius@...[FairfieldLife] mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Another X-ian nut from Texas running for Pres? My objection to Cruz is he is a scientific ignoramus, more so than most politicians, which tend as a group to fall into this category. Also he is presenting a view of the intent of the founding fathers of the United States that is not in line with history. They were largely Episcopalians in name only, following deistic ideas for the most part; Jefferson, in particular, was sometimes called an atheist by his contemporaries. 'Whenever the Supreme Court makes a decision that in any way restricts the intrusion of religion into the affairs of government, a flood of editorials, articles, and letters protesting the ruling is sure to appear in the newspapers. Many protesters decry these decisions on the grounds that they conflict with the wishes and intents of the "founding fathers".' 'Such a view of American history is completely contrary to known facts. The primary leaders of the so-called founding fathers of our nation were not Bible-believing Christians; they were deists. Deism was a philosophical belief that was widely accepted by the colonial intelligen
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
Maintain a distinction between 'generating wealth' and 'making money'. Pro-market capitalism generates wealth. Pro-business capitalism only makes money for a few. "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery" ~ Winston Churchill "Under communism, there is no incentive to supply people with anything they need or want, including safety." ~ George Reisman, (Capitalism : A Treatise on Economics 1996). "The trouble is with socialism, which resembles a form of mental illness more than it does a philosophy. Socialists get bees in their bonnets. And because they chronically lack any critical faculty to examine and evaluate their ideas, and because they are pathologically unwilling to consider the opinions of others, and most of all, because socialism is a mindset that regards the individual -- and his rights -- as insignificant, compared to whatever the socialist believes the group needs, terrible, terrible things happen when socialists acquire power." ~ L. Neil Smith, "Cambodian Road Trip", 15 March 2009) "Communism has sometimes succeeded as a scavenger, but never as a leader. It has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both." ~ John F. Kennedy, (Speech at NATO Headquarters, Naples Italy, 2 July 1963) "Socialism...must have a dictatorship, it will not work without it." ~ Mao Zedong, (Dikötter, The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945–57) "I think all the great religions of the world - Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Communism -- both untrue and harmful." ~ Bertrand Russell, (My Religious Reminiscences, 1957) "Communism is a doctrine bred of poverty, hatred and strife. Its spread can only be arrested by diminishing the area of poverty and hatred." ~ Bertrand Russell, (Portraits From Memory And Other Essays 1956) "Capitalism and communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this: The communist, seeing the rich man and his fine home says, 'No man should have so much.' The capitalist, seeing the same thing says, 'All men should have as much.' " – Phelps Adams "Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it, and hell where they already have it." ~ Ronald Reagan "How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin." ~ Ronald Reagan "Communism is like Prohibition, it's a good idea but it won't work" – Will Rogers "For us in Russia communism is a dead dog. For many people in the West, it is still a living lion." – Alexander Solzhenitsyn "Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff." – Frank Zappa "Any man who is not a communist at the age of twenty is a fool. Any man who is still a communist at the age of thirty is an even bigger fool." ~ George Bernard Shaw --- wrote : Well I guess then you don't know the tech industry which I've worked with for years and continue to work with. Yes it is about money. Do you own stocks? On 03/24/2015 12:26 PM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: No, it's not just about money. It's about our survival as a species. It's also about competition, the Russians and the Chinese are not going to stay static. To calculate the folding structure of a single protein would take one billion years, for all the super-computers on earth combined, right now. A quantum computer would do that in a few minutes time. Communism has no moral compass either. It breeds sloth, incompetency, inefficiency, kills merit, encourages mediocrity, sloppiness etc etc. I am sure you wouldn't like to live in those old commie countries. It is inevitable that we eventualy go off this planet. It's the only way that we can survive as a specie. Many cosmic disasters have hit earth and will continue to do so. We merging with AI is the next step in evolution. --- mailto:noozguru@... wrote : Blame capitalism. It's all about the money. All the tech companies care about is making money because if they don't then their stock will fall and the stockholders will complain. So there is no moral compass asking what is the long term effects of the project they are working on. We could probably just stop or slow where we are with technology and be fine for the next several hundred years. On 03/24/2015 11:04 AM, jr_esq@... mailto:jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: He agrees with Hawking and others that AI is not good for humans. Steve Wozniak: The Future of AI Is 'Scary and Very Bad for People' https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/steve-wozniak-future-ai-scary-154700881.html https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/steve-wozniak-future-ai-scary-154700881.html Steve Wozniak: The Future of AI Is 'Scary and Very Bad... https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/steve-wozniak-
[FairfieldLife] Re: Well, well, well.
Ravi probably implictly claimed that he was "enlightened" (even though most people on this planet have no clue what it is) Rick acted in good faith. Perhaps he is much wiser man now. Should Ravi's interview still stand? Why did Rick dump it out? If some muck comes out on other interviewees, will Rick dump their interviews as well? Rick should be aware that the TMO dumped out material, when it become uncomfortable for them. --- wrote : A typical distortion. Never takes long. Take away Barry's distortions, what have you got? A few clever links now and then. But the distortions? That's his own "clever" way to draw you into a meaningless discussion. --- wrote : As I've said before, Rick believed Ravi Chivukula when he claimed to be enlightened, too. I agree, and not just because he is obsessed with stalking me, and has been for 20 years. Rick made Ravi Chivukula's obvious mental illnesses WORSE by giving him a forum on which to act them out. He is doing the same thing to Willytex. --- wrote : His stated aim is to make this place unreadable because he doesn't like what some people say. He's a troll and an obviously mentally deranged on, if not actually autistic. You did him a big favour banning him from posting and a big mistake letting him back in.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Well, well, well.
Relax Steve. None of the discussions here can actualy change reality. If you have disagreements, attack the idea and not the person. For some strange reason you have been complaining about his behaviour for the past one year. I think Judy's posts were giving you guys a "high" for years. You are addicted to it. Now that Judy and the mean girls are gone, you feel you are missing something? Withdrawal symptoms. Steve, all things pass, all things must end. Get used to it and put yourself into a new groove. Or post more at 'the peak'. --- wrote : Barry, you are far too modest. Let your hair down a little and declare to the world the great service you provide as "Cult Slayer". Never mind you must distort most opposing points of view to make your point. I would say a more accurate term for what you do are is, "Reaction Vampire" From: "'Rick Archer' rick@..." I let Richard back in because he said people were talking about him and he wanted to respond. Has he run amok? Batgap Yahoo group has never been of much importance to me. --- wrote : The same is obviously true about Fairfield Life, Rick. You don't give a shit. You clearly haven't even bothered to *read* anything that Richard has posted. If you had, you would know what he posts, and why he posts -- to attack me. He's still doing the same things he was doing to Curtis, and that you dumped him for. Same with both Feste and Steve -- I challenge *either* of them to point us to a post they have made in the last six months that was NOT attacking me or Michael. Neither of them have *anything* to say unless it's attacking me. Therefore one can make a case that I do them a service -- if it weren't for me, both of them would be mistaken for rocks. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a number of reasons. It was too simplistic and childish. No balance between the individual and the collective. First of all, a distinction should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential goods'. Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state capitalism'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side by side, even do business with each other, proves that there is space for both approaches. Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state capitalism. --- wrote : "Communism is an interesting idea that has never been tried." "What some people think are communist countries are family businesses. North Korea as an example." On 03/25/2015 04:45 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Maintain a distinction between 'generating wealth' and 'making money'. Pro-market capitalism generates wealth. Pro-business capitalism only makes money for a few. "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery" ~ Winston Churchill "Under communism, there is no incentive to supply people with anything they need or want, including safety." ~ George Reisman, (Capitalism : A Treatise on Economics 1996). "The trouble is with socialism, which resembles a form of mental illness more than it does a philosophy. Socialists get bees in their bonnets. And because they chronically lack any critical faculty to examine and evaluate their ideas, and because they are pathologically unwilling to consider the opinions of others, and most of all, because socialism is a mindset that regards the individual -- and his rights -- as insignificant, compared to whatever the socialist believes the group needs, terrible, terrible things happen when socialists acquire power." ~ L. Neil Smith, "Cambodian Road Trip", 15 March 2009) "Communism has sometimes succeeded as a scavenger, but never as a leader. It has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both." ~ John F. Kennedy, (Speech at NATO Headquarters, Naples Italy, 2 July 1963) "Socialism...must have a dictatorship, it will not work without it." ~ Mao Zedong, (Dikötter, The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945–57) "I think all the great religions of the world - Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Communism -- both untrue and harmful." ~ Bertrand Russell, (My Religious Reminiscences, 1957) "Communism is a doctrine bred of poverty, hatred and strife. Its spread can only be arrested by diminishing the area of poverty and hatred." ~ Bertrand Russell, (Portraits From Memory And Other Essays 1956) "Capitalism and communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this: The communist, seeing the rich man and his fine home says, 'No man should have so much.' The capitalist, seeing the same thing says, 'All men should have as much.' " – Phelps Adams "Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it, and hell where they already have it." ~ Ronald Reagan "How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin." ~ Ronald Reagan "Communism is like Prohibition, it's a good idea but it won't work" – Will Rogers "For us in Russia communism is a dead dog. For many people in the West, it is still a living lion." – Alexander Solzhenitsyn "Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff." – Frank Zappa "Any man who is not a communist at the age of twenty is a fool. Any man who is still a communist at the age of thirty is an even bigger fool." ~ George Bernard Shaw --- mailto:noozguru@... wrote : Well I guess then you don't know the tech industry which I've worked with for years and continue to work with. Yes it is about money. Do you own stocks? On 03/24/2015 12:26 PM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: No, it's not just about money. It's about our survival as a species. It's also about competition, the Russians and the Chinese are not going to stay static. To calculate the folding structure of a single protein would take one billion years, for all the super-computers on earth combined, right now. A quantum computer would do
[FairfieldLife] Re: Living Communally: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
Buck, you will getter a good understanding from this link below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative In a cooperative entity, you have only one vote no matter how many shares you own. This is one essential difference form corporate entity. Their goal is minimal profits. Though, there are some cooperative entities that are non-profit and yet do business. --- wrote : Thanks, really interesting thoughtful posts. These are secular cooperatives you mention? Where people live together communally? Shared-goods other than just the business? Housing? Meals? Health Insurance/care? The aged? Non-spiritual? What keeps them together other than their business model? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : 'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a number of reasons. It was too simplistic and childish. No balance between the individual and the collective. First of all, a distinction should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential goods'. Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state capitalism'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side by side, even do business with each other, proves that there is space for both approaches. Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state capitalism. --- wrote : "Communism is an interesting idea that has never been tried." "What some people think are communist countries are family businesses. North Korea as an example." On 03/25/2015 04:45 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Maintain a distinction between 'generating wealth' and 'making money'. Pro-market capitalism generates wealth. Pro-business capitalism only makes money for a few. "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery" ~ Winston Churchill "Under communism, there is no incentive to supply people with anything they need or want, including safety." ~ George Reisman, (Capitalism : A Treatise on Economics 1996). "The trouble is with socialism, which resembles a form of mental illness more than it does a philosophy. Socialists get bees in their bonnets. And because they chronically lack any critical faculty to examine and evaluate their ideas, and because they are pathologically unwilling to consider the opinions of others, and most of all, because socialism is a mindset that regards the individual -- and his rights -- as insignificant, compared to whatever the socialist believes the group needs, terrible, terrible things happen when socialists acquire power." ~ L. Neil Smith, "Cambodian Road Trip", 15 March 2009) "Communism has sometimes succeeded as a scavenger, but never as a leader. It has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both." ~ John F. Kennedy, (Speech at NATO Headquarters, Naples Italy, 2 July 1963) "Socialism...must have a dictatorship, it will not work without it." ~ Mao Zedong, (Dikötter, The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945–57) "I think all the great religions of the world - Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Communism -- both untrue and harmful." ~ Bertrand Russell, (My Religious Reminiscences, 1957) "Communism is a doctrine bred of poverty, hatred and strife. Its spread can only be arrested by diminishing the area of poverty and hatred." ~ Bertrand Russell, (Portraits From Memory And Other Essays 1956) "Capitalism and communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this: The communist, seeing the rich man and his fine home says, 'No man should have so much.' The capitalist, seeing the same thing says, 'All men should have as much.' " – Phelps Adams "Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it, and hell where they already have it." ~ Ronald Reagan "How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin." ~ Ronald Reagan "Communism is like Prohibition, it's a good idea but it won't work" – Will Rogers "For us in Russia communism is a dead dog. For many people in the West, it is still a living lion." – Alexander Solzhenitsyn "Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff." – Frank Zappa "Any man who is not a commun
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
On 03/26/2015 03:07 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: 'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a number of reasons. --- wrote : Where? Kerala has a "communist" government and yet it was the cleanest and most organized of the places I visited in India. And private business was even thriving. More than 2 million people from kerala work in the middle-east, and they send remittances home. That keeps kerala going right now. Besides, it was the cooperative entities that facilitated housing development, finance and agriculture. Private business have lot of difficulties in Kerala. Many entrepreneurs moved out citing difficult environment. These 'communists' are every bit corrupt as any other party. It was too simplistic and childish. No balance between the individual and the collective. First of all, a distinction should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential goods'. --- wrote : That outlook is simplistic and childish. And apparently the viewpoint of an "armchair capitalist." ;-) I asked if you owned any stocks and instead I got a bunch of quotes, mostly PR from people who concerned about their public image. If you don't trade in stocks how can you really experience what capitalism is about? Maybe you should read Marx as capitalists say if you want to understand capitalism you need to read his works. I was involved in taking a private company public. There's the old saw "private companies work for dollars and public companies work for quarters." Nothing could be more true. As a private company we were focused on making products people wanted to buy. Once public we were focused on meeting the expectations of Wall Street. Even as a public company we should have kept the focus on good products rather than release dates but try to convince investment bankers of that. There's a six part BBC documentary on the Spanish Civil War on YouTube. When the monarchy rescinded their rule the country was thrown open to the public deciding what form of government they wanted. The most popular was anarchy. No body owns anything and scripts are used for trade. The rich property owners didn't want that so they were trying to overthrow it and succeeded in the horrific fascist government of Franco. Is that what you want? The US is headed that way. There is nothing to prevent the local community from using scrip stamps for trade. Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state capitalism'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side by side, even do business with each other, proves that there is space for both approaches. Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state capitalism. --- wrote : We have employee run companies here in the SF Bay Area. Rainbow Bread is one of them. They also make a good product. Coops were very popular in the 1960s and 1970s. My sister was the comptroller for one of the Bay Area ones. Seattle has a grocery co-op I was a member of. It was a good place to get natural and organic food. Beat the hell out of "Whole Foods". Thing is laissez-faire capitalism has run amok, created too much inequality and as such I think could be a pendulum swing the other direction to extreme socialism which is not a good solution either. But none the less the punishment for those who abused the privilege of a capitalist economy. Once you sort out the political funding issue, you can start dealing with this issue. Parties need funds to function and it's better if the State gives them. The idea of business capital funding parties, goes against the spirit of democracy. Corporate entities don't vote. They should not be allowed to donate more than 5% of their profits to parties. --- mailto:noozguru@... wrote : "Communism is an interesting idea that has never been tried." "What some people think are communist countries are family businesses. North Korea as an example." On 03/25/2015 04:45 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Maintain a distinction between 'generating wealth' and 'making money'. Pro-market capitalism generates wealth. Pro-business capitalism only makes money for a few. "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery" ~ Winston Churchill "Under communism, there is
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
Actually, this is an old issue. Remember Standard Oil which was broken into 6 companies. Artifically big banks can be broken into manageable units. Kerala at one stage had become so moribund, even rice had to be imported from neighboring provinces. Only after the unruly unions were reined in, things began to get better again. Indians in US send no shit home. Remitances from the middle-east give kerala a financial flexibility. I think I told you a hundred times that the political funding issue needs to be sorted out first. First things first. It was the East India company that wrecked india from 1757 to 1857. The british govt took over in 1857, but it was too late. --- wrote : You so don't understand. I'm not advocating socialism just condemning lassiez-faire capitalism or "capitalists gone wild!" Surely you don't think that "too big to fail" banks are a good thing, do you? Or have you been brainwashed by some business school bullshit, perhaps MUM economics? And what did you think of Kerala when you were there? :-D BTW, lots of Indians works all over the world and send money back home. India was under foreign domination for centuries and when they got the country back the fascists took over. They're still trying to sort that out. The country is too big and needs to be more state thus regionally focused. It's still run by oligarchs. On 03/27/2015 12:08 PM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Hide message history On 03/26/2015 03:07 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: 'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a number of reasons. --- mailto:noozguru@... wrote : Where? Kerala has a "communist" government and yet it was the cleanest and most organized of the places I visited in India. And private business was even thriving. More than 2 million people from kerala work in the middle-east, and they send remittances home. That keeps kerala going right now. Besides, it was the cooperative entities that facilitated housing development, finance and agriculture. Private business have lot of difficulties in Kerala. Many entrepreneurs moved out citing difficult environment. These 'communists' are every bit corrupt as any other party. It was too simplistic and childish. No balance between the individual and the collective. First of all, a distinction should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential goods'. --- mailto:noozguru@... wrote : That outlook is simplistic and childish. And apparently the viewpoint of an "armchair capitalist." ;-) I asked if you owned any stocks and instead I got a bunch of quotes, mostly PR from people who concerned about their public image. If you don't trade in stocks how can you really experience what capitalism is about? Maybe you should read Marx as capitalists say if you want to understand capitalism you need to read his works. I was involved in taking a private company public. There's the old saw "private companies work for dollars and public companies work for quarters." Nothing could be more true. As a private company we were focused on making products people wanted to buy. Once public we were focused on meeting the expectations of Wall Street. Even as a public company we should have kept the focus on good products rather than release dates but try to convince investment bankers of that. There's a six part BBC documentary on the Spanish Civil War on YouTube. When the monarchy rescinded their rule the country was thrown open to the public deciding what form of government they wanted. The most popular was anarchy. No body owns anything and scripts are used for trade. The rich property owners didn't want that so they were trying to overthrow it and succeeded in the horrific fascist government of Franco. Is that what you want? The US is headed that way. There is nothing to prevent the local community from using scrip stamps for trade. Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state capitalism'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side by side, even do business with each other, proves that there is space for both approaches. Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state capitalism. --- mailto:noozguru@... wrote : We have employee run companies here in the SF Bay Area. Rainbow Bread is one of them. They als
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
Bhairitu, you are plain nuts. To solve a problem, one has to look at the root of the problem. For some peculiar reason, you are refusing to address this. You keep putting the blame on capitalism, when the real villain is consumerism. You can easily defeat consumerism with a simple progressive consumption tax regime. This idea deserves to be sold. All radical ideas need some selling the beginning because mind has a tendency to become dogmatic. I wonder why you reject this idea? The peoples party in Norway get 90% of its income from the government. A lot of indians try to invest in US itself. The Chinese on the other hand, dutifuly send money home. I was in kerala in 1998. It became really bad in the early 2000's. Kerala was known for 'general public strikes' called "bandhs". Even in the 80's it was difficult for private businesses. Old timers tell me that things were very different in the 1950's and 60's. It was far more self-sufficient. On 03/27/2015 01:43 PM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Actually, this is an old issue. Remember Standard Oil which was broken into 6 companies. Artifically big banks can be broken into manageable units. --- wrote : Mergers and acquisitions are a craze in the business community. When our company went public we were "encouraged" to buy some smaller companies. Big mistake as we were having problems managing our company as it was. Then there was the "blues" of the people who worked in the smaller company who didn't want the owner to sell out and liked working there as it was. IBM tends to spin off successful units as they did with Lexmark and Lenovo. That probably was because of an anti-trust suit against them years ago. When you merge a company duplicate positions in the acquired company get laid off. So it creates more unemployment. The big banks are out of control and malicious. Try arguing with their case workers as I did for a mistake they made. Kerala at one stage had become so moribund, even rice had to be imported from neighboring provinces. Only after the unruly unions were reined in, things began to get better again. --- wrote : When was this? I was there in 1996. Indians in US send no shit home. Remitances from the middle-east give kerala a financial flexibility. --- wrote : Really? I know Indians that send money home. I think I told you a hundred times that the political funding issue needs to be sorted out first. First things first. --- wrote : You can tell me all you want but I won't buy what you're selling. :-D It was the East India company that wrecked india from 1757 to 1857. The british govt took over in 1857, but it was too late. --- wrote : East India Company was a British company. The same one our founding fathers rebelled against. --- mailto:noozguru@... wrote : You so don't understand. I'm not advocating socialism just condemning lassiez-faire capitalism or "capitalists gone wild!" Surely you don't think that "too big to fail" banks are a good thing, do you? Or have you been brainwashed by some business school bullshit, perhaps MUM economics? And what did you think of Kerala when you were there? :-D BTW, lots of Indians works all over the world and send money back home. India was under foreign domination for centuries and when they got the country back the fascists took over. They're still trying to sort that out. The country is too big and needs to be more state thus regionally focused. It's still run by oligarchs.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Tim Cook Wants to Give Fortune Away
From: "jr_esq@..." One wonders why some rich people are doing this. Are they in tremendous pressure from the IRS and others from keeping their wealth? Does his wife and children agree with this decision? --- wrote : Just when I think it really isn't possible for JR to get any less intelligent, he surprises me. Not only is he incapable of imagining a rich person deciding to share his wealth with others, he doesn't even know that the CEO of Apple is gay. This could explain how Winthrop and Albert worked on the non-weapon part, of an exclusively weapons project in which, one of them was denied security clearance.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
Semitic religions, that is Judeo-christian-muslim worldview is basicaly literalist. Most of what is written there are interperted literaly. Eastern religions, that is Hindu-Buddhist philosophy is more metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic and figurative. This leads to confusion and misunderstanding, when both groups read each other's literature. Could it be JohnR is a literalist? --- wrote : Religious scriptures can contain some mention of facts, but usually they seem to be on the order of say the mention of the Kennedy assassination in the Illuminatus! triology of Shea & Wilson, where there is quite a lot of mention of historical people in an otherwise unbelievable story. There is more historical information available for Pontius Pilate than for Jesus. JR's view of the world does not seem to rest much on factual data, and seems to lack an underpinning of basic logic. Religious scriptures and apologetics basically just want to convince you of something, and there is nothing I see wrong in that, but buyer beware. Our societies tend not to give us the tools to think critically. The Netherlands has been a place where free thinking has had a better hold than in most, but I am ignorant of how well that is holding up currently. --- wrote : I am aware of the problems with establishing the historical existence of many religious figures, Xeno, but that isn't what I was getting at with JR. I have noticed in him a tendency that I doubt he is aware of -- or, if he is, he probably sees nothing wrong with. When claiming to believe in the existence of Krishna or similar figures from religious myth here in the past, he has cited as proof "scriptures" such as the Gita. Bzzt. Thanks for playing, but no win. Religious scriptures are NOT factual, no matter how many people believe they are. Scholars often don't even know the *century* many of them were written in, much less who wrote them. Best to consider them creative fiction written with the intent to inspire IMO. The only *other* mechanism by which JR can claim to have "done research" on the question of whether someone like Krishna existed in real life or not is "seeing" -- meaning some kind of subjective realization or vision or intuition. While I admit that such things exist -- subjectively -- I do NOT admit that any of these "seeings" have anything to do with fact. If they did, more people who claim to be able to see the future would be millionaires. :-) I was just hoping to see JR try to actually posit and then defend some mechanism by which he thinks "proof" could be offered of Krishna's existence. If he actually tried, it might wake him up to the fact that the only reason he *does* believe in such silliness is that someone he holds as an "authority" said so. In other words, his only "proof" is the word "Maharishisez." Now, as for Schroedinger's cat, I for one have no problem with someone being both alive and dead at the same time. Just look at Keith Richards -- the guy has looked like death on a stick since the 1960s, yet he still manages to tour and play some pretty good guitar. If that's not an example of Schroedinger's paradox, I don't know what is. :-) As for the answer to "What's in the big pink box, man?" that is as much of a koan as it was when posed in the movie "Buckaroo Banzai." Me, I kinda doubt it's enlightenment. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Living Communally: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
You have a point. My point is it's good to have a healthy eco-system, of the economic system. A system that has diversity of approaches will be more stable in the long run. I have often noticed that any organisation or country, it's success often depends on the vision of the top-man, ie the leader. Could it be a law of nature? The key word here is transparency. It eliminates mismanagement, brings in professionalism. --- wrote : Hy-Vee Foods, "Employee Owned" is another good life-cycle example of this potential within cooperative living if not actively looked out for by a level of transparency and civil society. Employee-owned with a few people at the top management cutting hours and benefits of their working not-quite full-time employees to pay profits for the salaries of boards and managers on top. As one full-time employee there observed after work hours were cut to less than full time, " 'Employee Owned' by five people at the top.." Thanks, co-ops sound very ideal towards a sharing. Though sounds further in time a lot like any organizations where things starts off with a membership with one-person-one-vote then you get an administrative board elected. And it becomes an oligarchy of sorts. Seems co-ops often just go the route of corporations anyway. ..Good for a few people at the top once it gets going. Sort of like the Standing Committee over communist China. Putin's Oligarchy. Or, the TM movement now. Thanks, co-ops sound very ideal towards a sharing. Though sounds further in time a lot like any organizations where things starts off with a membership with one-person-one-vote then you get an administrative board elected. And it becomes an oligarchy of sorts. Like what happened with the New Pioneer Food Coop in Iowa City. Now a few high-paid administrator/store-managers working at the board level over the membership, high priced food, and a lot of lowly-paid working-poor employees to pay for the administrator managers. Same thing for this Heartland 'Cooperative' that just built this massive multi-million dollar facility for the simple business of unloading and re-loading grain on to a monopoly-owned rail-line here with slim chance of pay-back. Small group of manager-class running it. Pretty evidently a project that an administrative-team put together for itself aside from the membership understanding the economics of it so far as pay-back. The membership proly would have been better off with that capital returned in dividend. But of course there is no job in that for the manager-class. Seems co-ops often just go the route of corporations anyway. ..Good for a few people at the top once it gets going. Sort of like the Standing Committee over communist China. Putin's Oligarchy. Or, the TM movement now. -Buck, a meditator member in a meditating community in Fairfield, Iowa --- wrote : Buck, you will getter a good understanding from this link below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative In a cooperative entity, you have only one vote no matter how many shares you own. This is one essential difference form corporate entity. Their goal is minimal profits. Though, there are some cooperative entities that are non-profit and yet do business. --- wrote : Thanks, really interesting thoughtful posts. These are secular cooperatives you mention? Where people live together communally? Shared-goods other than just the business? Housing? Meals? Health Insurance/care? The aged? Non-spiritual? What keeps them together other than their business model? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : 'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a number of reasons. It was too simplistic and childish. No balance between the individual and the collective. First of all, a distinction should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential goods'. Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state capitalism'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side by side, even do business with each other, proves that there is space for both approaches. Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state capitalism. --- wrote : "Communism is an interesting idea that has never been tried." "What some people think are communist countries are family businesses. North Korea as an example." On 03/25/2015 04:45 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: