Child-killing religion

[William T Goodall]

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gOpmWyOXR5j94s1rzxyBpDv886JQ

"Toddler 'starved to death by cult'
Aug 12, 2008
A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase in Philadelphia  
this spring was starved to death by members of a religious cult,  
including his mother, in part because he refused to say "amen" after  
meals, police said.

Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged with first- 
degree murder in the boy's death, and Baltimore police said that three  
other members of a group called 1 Mind Ministries have also been  
charged with first-degree murder.

Police and Ramkissoon's family say the group is a cult.

Members did not seek medical care for Javon when he stopped breathing,  
and the boy died in his mother's arms, according to court documents  
that described police interviews with a confidential informant and two  
children.

He would have been about 15 months old when police say adults stopped  
feeding him in December 2006."

The power of faith Maru

-- 
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit  
atrocities." ~Voltaire.

___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Off-topic., monotonous posting (was Child-killing religion)

[Nick Arnett]

William,
This is not a discussion list about religion.  I don't think we've ever
moderated anybody for frequent off-topic posting, but I'm growing
increasingly concerned that many of your postings are a distraction and
offensive to some who might otherwise participate.  Others,including me, are
just plain bored with it, since you haven't written anything new on the
topic for a long, long time.

As a reminder, here is the list description:

"This list is a community of people who are interested in the writings
of David Brin and his fellow "Killer Bees" -- Gregory Benford, Greg
Bear... and recently inducted members Stephen Baxter and Vernor
Vinge. These authors represent the portion of the science
fiction genre that takes science seriously, emphasizing careful
thought experiments about plausible tomorrows. "


On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 4:47 AM, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:

> http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gOpmWyOXR5j94s1rzxyBpDv886JQ
>
> "Toddler 'starved to death by cult'

...

Nick
___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Re: Off-topic., monotonous posting (was Child-killing religion)

[William T Goodall]

On 20 Aug 2008, at 15:12, Nick Arnett wrote:

> William,
> This is not a discussion list about religion

"All is Brin".



> .  I don't think we've ever
> moderated anybody for frequent off-topic posting, but I'm growing
> increasingly concerned that many of your postings are a distraction  
> and
> offensive to some who might otherwise participate.

On 22 Dec 2003, at 04:03, Doug Pensinger wrote:
>
> With all due respect, if we stopped talking about everything that  
> makes someone upset, we may as well shut down the list because we  
> wouldn't even be able to discuss the weather.



> Others,including me, are
> just plain bored with it, since you haven't written anything new on  
> the
> topic for a long, long time.

Don't read it then. I certainly don't read every post to this list.

I'm growing increasingly concerned that you are trying to use your  
position on the list to intimidate and silence those with whom you do  
not agree and that this behaviour could be offensive to some who might  
otherwise participate.

Watchmen  Maru

-- 
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit  
atrocities." ~Voltaire.

___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Re: Off-topic., monotonous posting (was Child-killing religion)

[Olin Elliott]

By that description, 99% of the postings are off topic.

Olin
  - Original Message - 
  From: Nick Arnett 
  To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion 
  Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 7:12 AM
  Subject: Off-topic., monotonous posting (was Child-killing religion)


  William,
  This is not a discussion list about religion.  I don't think we've ever
  moderated anybody for frequent off-topic posting, but I'm growing
  increasingly concerned that many of your postings are a distraction and
  offensive to some who might otherwise participate.  Others,including me, are
  just plain bored with it, since you haven't written anything new on the
  topic for a long, long time.

  As a reminder, here is the list description:

  "This list is a community of people who are interested in the writings
  of David Brin and his fellow "Killer Bees" -- Gregory Benford, Greg
  Bear... and recently inducted members Stephen Baxter and Vernor
  Vinge. These authors represent the portion of the science
  fiction genre that takes science seriously, emphasizing careful
  thought experiments about plausible tomorrows. "


  On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 4:47 AM, William T Goodall <[EMAIL 
PROTECTED]>wrote:

  > 
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gOpmWyOXR5j94s1rzxyBpDv886JQ
  >
  > "Toddler 'starved to death by cult'

  ...

  Nick
  ___
  
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Re: Off-topic., monotonous posting (was Child-killing religion)

[Nick Arnett]

On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 8:10 AM, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
>
>
> Don't read it then. I certainly don't read every post to this list.


Bzzzt.  As you know, I am one of the list managers and as a group, we do and
we will read all the messages.

>
> I'm growing increasingly concerned that you are trying to use your
> position on the list to intimidate and silence those with whom you do
> not agree and that this behaviour could be offensive to some who might
> otherwise participate.


Gee, who could have seen that response coming?

And... baloney.

Your anti-religious postings are trivial.  That's the problem.  Science
versus religion is a perfectly reasonable topic here.  That's not what
you're offering us.

Nick
___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Re: Off-topic., monotonous posting (was Child-killing religion)

[William T Goodall]

On 20 Aug 2008, at 16:22, Nick Arnett wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 8:10 AM, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> >wrote:
>>
>>
>> Don't read it then. I certainly don't read every post to this list.
>
>
> Bzzzt.  As you know, I am one of the list managers and as a group,  
> we do and
> we will read all the messages.


Maybe you should stop being a list manager if it's too taxing for you.

>
>
>>
>> I'm growing increasingly concerned that you are trying to use your
>> position on the list to intimidate and silence those with whom you do
>> not agree and that this behaviour could be offensive to some who  
>> might
>> otherwise participate.
>
>
> Gee, who could have seen that response coming?
>
> And... baloney.
>
> Your anti-religious postings are trivial.  That's the problem.   
> Science
> versus religion is a perfectly reasonable topic here.  That's not what
> you're offering us.
>

Those are your opinions with which I disagree.

QED Maru

-- 
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit  
atrocities." ~Voltaire.

___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Re: Off-topic., monotonous posting (was Child-killing religion)

[William T Goodall]

On 20 Aug 2008, at 16:13, Olin Elliott wrote:

> By that description, 99% of the postings are off topic.
>


And I'm not even the most frequent poster!


Agenda  Maru


  "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product  
of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still  
primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish." - Albert  
Einstein

-- 
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/



___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Greg Bear's Quantico

[John Garcia]

Has anyone read Greg Bear's thriller Quantico?

I enjoyed it. Bear always gives me some food for thought.
I've included this blurb from his web site on the book.

Text from Back Cover:

>From multiple award winning and New York Times–bestselling author Greg Bear
comes a near-future thriller that pits young FBI agents against a brilliant
homegrown terrorist. It's the second decade of the Twenty-First Century, and
terrorism has escalated almost beyond control. The Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem has been blown to bits by extremists, and, in retaliation,
thousands have died in another major attack on the United States. New
weapons are being spawned in remote basement labs, and no one feels safe.

In North america, the FBI uses cutting edge technology to thwart domestic
terrorists. Sat-linked engine blockers stop drug-traffickers cold. Devices
the size of Magic Markers test for biohazards on the spot. 3-D projectors
reconstruct crime scenes from hours-old evidence, and sophisticated bomb
suits protect against all but the most savage forces. Despite all this, the
War on Terror has reached a deadly stalemate.

Now the FBI has been dispatched to deal with a new menace. A plague targeted
to ethnic groups— Jews or Muslims or both—has the potential to wipe out
entire populations. But the FBI itself is under political assault. There's a
good chance agents William Griffin, Fouad Al-Husam, and Jane Rowland will be
part of the last class at Quantico. As the young agents hunt a brilliant
homegrown terrorist, they join forces with veteran bio-terror expert rebecca
rose. But the plot they uncover—and the man they chase—prove to be far more
complex than anyone expects.

summer reading maru

john
___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Weekly Chat Reminder

[William T Goodall]

The Brin-L weekly chat has been a list tradition for over nine
years. Way back on 27 May, 1998, Marco Maisenhelder first set
up a chatroom for the list, and on the next day, he established
a weekly chat time. We've been through several servers, chat
technologies, and even casts of regulars over the years, but
the chat goes on... and we want more recruits!

Whether you're an active poster or a lurker, whether you've
been a member of the list from the beginning or just joined
today, we would really like for you to join us. We have less
politics, more Uplift talk, and more light-hearted discussion.
We're non-fattening and 100% environmentally friendly...
-(_() Though sometimes marshmallows do get thrown.

The Weekly Brin-L chat is scheduled for Wednesday 3 PM
Eastern/2 PM Central time in the US, or 7 PM Greenwich time.
There's usually somebody there to talk to for at least eight
hours after the start time. If no-one is there when you arrive
just wait around a while for the next person to show up!

If you want to attend, it's really easy now. All you have to
do is send your web browser to:

  http://wtgab.demon.co.uk/~brinl/mud/

..And you can connect directly from the NEW new web
interface!

-- 
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/

"This message was sent automatically using launchd. But even if WTG
 is away on holiday, at least it shows the server is still up."
___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Apology (was Re: Off-topic., monotonous posting (was Child-killing religion))

[William T Goodall]

On 20 Aug 2008, at 15:12, Nick Arnett wrote:

> William,
> This is not a discussion list about religion.  I don't think we've  
> ever
> moderated anybody for frequent off-topic posting, but I'm growing
> increasingly concerned that many of your postings are a distraction  
> and
> offensive to some who might otherwise participate.  Others,including  
> me, are
> just plain bored with it, since you haven't written anything new on  
> the
> topic for a long, long time.
>

I think it's clear than Nick's behaviour here is quite inappropriate  
and deserves censure in the strongest terms. What happened to IAAMOAC?

It's clear Nick doesn't like my opinions. It's even clearer that he's  
abusing his position in the most egregious manner and should apologise  
to me and the list for his outburst.

Civil Maru


-- 
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit  
atrocities." ~Voltaire.

___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l

Off-topic...

[Jon Louis Mann]

> William,
> This is not a discussion list about religion.  I don't
> think we've ever
> moderated anybody for frequent off-topic posting, but
> I'm growing
> increasingly concerned that many of your postings are a
> distraction and
> offensive to some who might otherwise participate. 
> Others,including me, are
> just plain bored with it, since you haven't written
> anything new on the
> topic for a long, long time.

> As a reminder, here is the list description:
> "This list is a community of people who are interested
> in the writings
> of David Brin and his fellow "Killer Bees" --
> Gregory Benford, Greg
> Bear... and recently inducted members Stephen Baxter and
> Vernor
> Vinge. These authors represent the portion of the science
> fiction genre that takes science seriously, emphasizing
> careful thought experiments about plausible tomorrows. "


The Brin-L Mailing List exists for the discussion of matters pertaining to the 
writings of Drs. Brin and Benford, AND topics of interest to list members. 

As members of a civilization, these are the guidelines we agree to live under: 

We post every message we write as if we were going to read it aloud in front of 
the whole group. 
We give each other the benefit of the doubt.  If you think you've been 
offended, read the offending message > again... ALOUD... TWICE! Consider that 
there may be a milder way to interpret the remark. Then ASK the perpetrator if 
they meant the worse version. Ask others if they saw it that way. The word is 
"Paraphrase." (added by David Brin, 9/16/02)  
We sign our messages with our name and e-mail address. 
We are tolerant of subject threads that bore us to death. 
We keep subject lines appropriate to the contents of the message. 
We do NOT include the entire message to which we are replying. 
We DO include a few lines if our reply can't stand on its own. 
We DO keep attributions correctly assigned to the original poster. 
We do NOT send terse, one line replies. 
We use emphasis to make our comments clear. (Stars, smilies, etc.) 
We use white space and keep our paragraphs short. 
We keep our line length below 80 characters. 
If our reply is more appropriately directed only at the original poster, we 
don't send it to the entire list. 
If our message is funny, frivolous, humourous, or is generally silly in nature, 
we add a "Silly/Humor" flag to the subject line so others can identify it 
easily. 
We flag long messages with "GLL", "ELL" or "L3" in the subject line. (In 
deference to our Grand Past Alpha Mails this stands for "Gord like length", 
"Eythain like length" or "Lazh like length".) 

We agree that: 

Questions are welcome. 
Extensive discussions that get into the nitty-gritty of the subject are 
welcome. 
Funny, silly, frivolous, amusing, playful, joking, cheerful postings are 
welcome. Original humor, especially if it pertains to an existing thread, is 
quite welcome. Forwarding blanket humor from other sources is discouraged, but 
not forbidden. 
We are a multilingual group, and as such we tolerate mistakes and 
idiosyncracies when they show up on the list in English (American English). We 
remember that some folks may not be the best typists around, and tolerate those 
mistakes as well. We all will kindly answer any questions others have about our 
native language in a friendly manner. 
Brin and Benford ROCK. =+))  Trevor Sands is the best screen writer ever. Most 
of the time we think Iain Banks is pretty cool, too. 

We will further endeavor to remember, as David Brin says, to "Remind yourself, 
now and then, to say the following phrase: 'I am a member of a civilization.' 
(IAAMOAC). Our society has its flaws, but if you ponder history, and 
cantankerous human nature, it's astonishing how far we've come. We just don't 
say IAAMOAC often enough. " 

We further agree that: 

Personal attacks, whether direct or indirect are not welcome. These should be 
handled off list, and if you disagree with some controversial point, direct the 
attack at the argument, not the person. 
Abusive or inflammatory language is not welcome. 
Profanity is not welcome. 
Chain letters are not welcome. 
Mail bombs to each other are not welcome. 
The Listowners have the right to remove someone who does not wish to comport 
themselves in a manner concordant with our civilization. 




  
___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l