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/.‘r reporting in.  i was agent smith for one of the first imax showings of revolutions, but it seems none of these middle earth costumes are as easy to emulate.  looks like i’ll have to settle for this list of to-dos =D

Another /.er here.

For those that had their old lady costumes don’t despair, he didn’t say anything about a Monty Python style fruit battle (like in the self defense sketch). So bring plenty of fruits

/. whore and damn proud of it too.

Not a damned haiku.
Six syllables in line one.
Try five, seven, five.

LOL… sorry bout that, just a stickler for poetry. Made it over from /. , keep up the good work.

It would be interesting if they repeated the expierment with women that are ovulating.  Women seem to pick their mates in about a three hour window each month.  Thats why the fat slob at work is getting some and you aren’t, he simply talked to a girl at the right time.

another /. whore here…count me in…#19 by far the best…

funny stuff (from /. too)

I love the expression and one raised eyebrow

“Have you been a bad girl?  Does Santa get to put you on his naughty list?“ 

It needs that caption

D

I was born in San Diego.  Nice winter weather   Sometimes, it gets below 50 degrees F.  Not often, though.

We moved to Wyoming when I was 9.  It hit sixty below zero a few times over the 5 years I lived there.  We’d also have “sticking” snow by my birthday, every year, the first week in October.  By now, they’ve probably got their standard 3-5 feet on the ground.

But hey, I moved back to San Diego in 1979.  I’m not stupid, ya know

D

Stupid Evil Santa!

Yep! Pablo has it pegged!

Nice pic!

~S

I just came across this site and think so far it’s pretty interesting. I’m a life-long atheist and hate christmas music with a passion. I haven’t figured out why I still enjoy gospel and other religious music though.

Being grateful and skeptical are two different things. Iraq has a little more than 20 million people and about ten U.S. soldiers a week are being killed. If they were so ungrateful wouldn’t you think they would be causing a lot more harm? Besides, are these attacks coming from the general populace or from people who have strong contacts to the former government and therefore will have no involvement in Iraq’s future? Bush and his administration are doing a piss poor job in their ability to plan for the future ramifications of their decisions but I don’t believe that the situation in Iraq is getting to the point of failure? Of course that view does sell better and gets the blood boiling and we love to get our blood boiling don’t we?

I am not saying that this is the same situation as occupied Japan or Germany. They were exhausted after a long and bloody war and they had no real belief that we were there to permanently occupy them. What I see from the non-violent actions of the Iraqi’s is skepticism of our ability or desire to do what is best for them. When you consider their history, our past actions, and the government they lived under for so many years I do not blame them. But that is skepticism not ungratefulness. Let’s please call it what it is. 

Besides, their proud human beings like the rest of us. Maybe they are impatient to be their own people or that it is belittling to be told that they need a “big brother” to help them, especially one that is American, and everything that term means to them. How do you think the Germans felt about being “Liberated” by the Russians? How do the Iraqi’s know they are not getting into the same situation? It is the only kind of world that they know.

Thinking on a historical sense, if we are not there to occupy them in this way and we do rebuild their country all of these issues fall to the waste side. I do not believe we are there for permanent occupation and I do believe that we can rebuild the country. Yes, Bush’s friends will profit from it and that is disgraceful but after it is finished will that matter to Iraq or to future world events and relationships? Europe and America seemed to get over the whole World War Two thing pretty quickly. Sure, the Soviet Union used that event to take some real estate and ally its self with the participants that got fucked over after that war but that is another point.

And another one.. earned yourself a bookmark here, good stuff

/. n00b here

another /. whore

I haven’t laughed that hard all year!!!

I’m a slashdot whore comin’ over to see the excitement.

Please ignore me.

Actually, Caimlas, I’m feeling a little more optimistic these days, as the Journal of Higher Education just posted about 160 job openings for English instructors.  Granted, quite a few of these are not realistic openings for me, as they want specialists in developmental English, or Tesol, or English Education specialists; but there are some openings for generalists, as well—people who can teach comp or lit or even gen ed history classes if necessary.  And these are actually jobs that I’m technically qualified for right now, even without finishing my diss.  So I’m not feeling as bleak as I was—apparently, all the job postings come out about once a year, and there’s a mad scramble to get out application packages and CVs.  The rest of the year, colleges really are pretty much restricting hiring to an adjunct basis, or just putting off hiring until the fall semester of the next year.

That being said, if you don’t think you’d object to the work too much, public schools are always hiring teachers, the pay is decent, considering that you’re working about 9 mos a year, and you can pretty much live where you want.  Maybe not right down to the town, street and house you would prefer, but you can pretty much pick your favorite metropolitan area, and you can certainly be picky about the state you want to live in.  (Maricopa county, AZ has just ridiculous housing prices right now, and they’ve got a teacher shortage on top of it.  Yeah, it’s a desert, “but it’s a dry heat.”)

Also, if you go through a credentialing program at a college you can get a lot of advice and help.  It’s possible, if you already have your degree, to go through the testing/student teaching/credentialing process without actually being enrolled at the college anymore, but you get a lot less guidance.  Trust me, if you’re trying to get credentialed in CA you’re going to need the guidance, as it is an absolute forest of bureaucracy.  Your ultimate goal should be to get a clear, single subject credential, so that you’re not working as the “home room” teacher; home room teachers deal extensively with parents, and parents don’t always have their brains turned on when they come to conferences.  (I think some of them are still angry with the teachers they had as kids, and want to take it out on their kids’ teachers).

Finally, keep a stiff upper lip, even if the going looks bleak—and remember, you forget how horrible the job-hunting process was once you collect your first fat paycheck.  If your 1st love is computer science, get your degree in that, and teach CS to High school kids.  The job market is cyclical, like everything else, and by the time you get your degree (in whatever you’re interested in) teaching HS may not be your only option anymore.

I wish you luck.

Coolness! Now I get to find out what it’s like to go over my bandwidth limits! :-D

Seriously though, I think that’s actually the second time I’ve had my site mentioned in the comments to a /. article. Still, I’ll take what little bit of glory I can from it.

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Agnostics are just atheists without balls. - Stephen Colbert

if i had a stranger offering me money *now* or more money *later*

id take what i could get now, why trust a stranger who can get away scott free once i leave because i was enough of a sap to trust him to give me extra cash at a random time down the road?

Damn it nowiser, I’m in nearly the exact same boat you are, but several years back - I’ve jumped around schools for a while, and only have 2 years worth of credits under the belt in nothing paticular (except for a minimal smathering of CS stuff). I realize I can’t expect to get a job in the private or corporate sector in anything computer related, now. Nothing that would pay, at least.

I’m thinking of trying to get a security clearance and join up with a federal agency (after I get a degree or two, and maybe a masters/PhD, if time permits), or possibly get a teaching degree - after all, education is one of the few things that is promised to always need workers, even if it doesn’t pay well all the time.

Plus, teacher + school network admin might rake in a bit more money, and I’d have to deal with brats less.

Les, you made it! You’ve been semi-slashdotted!

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“An eye for an eye leaves us all blind.“ - Gandhi

Gonzo the Great. LOL. Love you site, Les.

Friendly? I’m not exactly sure my nephews and nieces would want to sit on your lap. Especially if you look at them like that. What the hell is on your mind Santa? Maybe when Hollywood makes the sequel to or copycats “Bad Santa” they could do “Stupid Evil Santa.“

:evillaugh: Imagine that. You still look like a white American.

Les, I appreciate the time and thought you put into your response. I can see your point in a lot of what you said. I am going to pick your brain some more.

“ The second being that no one seems to be able to define exactly what “negative” energy supposedly is, just that it’s something emitted by skeptics. “

This is interesting, given what you said about gravity. I may be missing the point or blending too many ideas, so be patient with me. You said nobody disputes gravity “ because we can all see its effect on everything around us. “ It seems to me, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we see the effects of negative energy around us every day. It is in our body language, our actions and reactions, and while this might not be exactly the kind of negative energy you are pointing to in those tests, I think it all might be generated from the same place - a dysfunctional ego. I think if our minds are acting as some sort of antennae for a force or phenomenon, then of course our minds would have some influence on the tests themselves.
Beyond that, has there never been a test to suggest psychic phenomenon is real? Perhaps they have been “ disproved “ by others, but I can be a little skeptical about that too. I think I would have to be far more knowledgeable about science to understand which tests hold more weight, because certainly the facts as they are believed by the majority aren’t necessarily more credible.

“ Science and scientific data are just tools for trying to determine the facts about reality. Like any tools they can be misused and produce incorrect conclusions especially if the scientist is prejudiced on what the outcome should be “

Just like Tarot readers and cards. I have known two women that could read tarot cards as if they were some window into the future - able to pick out amazing details that sure enough bare true. But if you asked either one of them to test their skills, they would not do it. Why? I don’t know, but I would feel comfortable assuming there is some sacredness to the act for them - whether religious or not. One of those women helped government officials - on more than one occasion - locate a missing child. We don’t hear much about those cases though, because very few want to publicly admit they worked with “ a psychic.” Those readers are rare, or at least, I have not met many. But I do know another whose readings provide assistance to the critical thinking skills you mentioned in another post. Sometimes, some of us need signposts to see the obvious. And this is where I come in. I read runes, which are different, but can be used for divinatory purposes. I rarely ask for an actual glimpse into the future, but for some insight on what’s going on. Time and time again, people have walked away with new perspectives on their issue, which works for them. Maybe I am using no more than a tool to prompt my own intuition or critical thinking to help them, but if so, that’s okay with me. For me personally, if believing there is some higher spiritual connection to it all provides me with comfort - but is no more than a psychological trick I play on myself - I am okay with that too, as long as it is working for me.

You have inspired me to do some research on science and gravity.

“ Because if it extends to the whole of the universe then that means some of it at least has to be here and if it’s here then it should be testable the same as gravity is “

Yep. Hmm. Back to the drawing board. But I am still taking with me the idea that maybe we just haven’t figured out how to test it. If the conventional always worked, then science would never change. Right?

Money sponge?! What a great idea.  Wish I thought of that.

But as a believer, I couldn’t use it.  I think there’s a special place in hell for those who hustle people by taking advantage of their spiritual inclinations.

I know how you feel.  It hasn’t hardly snowed here, either.  It either rains or the wind blows freakishly hard (like today).  Very disappointing.

Damn dude!  I thought you were going to be the scary one in my entourage!  You look way too friendly in that freakin hat!  Hell, I might even call you “jolly” looking!

Great!  Now who’s gonna scare away all of those autograph hounds!?

Adorable!!! Hey A Little can go a long way better then over doing it.

Excellent!!

It should be obvious that I’m a white American, my picture is in the upper left corner there. What’s also obvious is that you haven’t read anything on this website outside of this page or you’d realize that I also think the President is a dickhead and was against the war in Iraq.

But you just go ahead and sit there in your ignorance of what reality actually is and sling your insults around with wild abandon without bothering to see if they apply to the person you’re throwing them at like a good little foreigner. Ironically, you think we’re the idiots.

 Signature 

Agnostics are just atheists without balls. - Stephen Colbert

well i just read that osama thing. i gues no doubt ur a white american. with no brians at all. just watch tv and belive whatver u see. u ppl dont know anythin bout the world. ur president is a dickhead and u ppl r stupid n belive his shit bout america reuiniting and being the greatest nation. hes just buttering u up to be on his side n u ppl fall for it. well cant blame u. for a country whose ppl sues a food chain for making them fat. bring shame to the world. maybe you should be lookin at your own goverment to be bombed. maybe then you will be at least a decent nation

I thought Santa always packed summer clothes for crossing over into the southern hemisphere?

 Signature 

Agnostics are just atheists without balls. - Stephen Colbert

It is quite evident that the name of this web site says it all.

Thanks. I picked it out myself. I thought it was succinct and to the point.

To be both “athiest” and “independent politician” is to think that you know everything - not having to commit to any set religious faction or political viewpoint.

Wow, you sure do seem to glean a lot of info from two words. Now you presume to know whether I think I know it all and won’t commit to various viewpoints. Perhaps you should try reading more of the site, or even meeting me in person, before making declarations about what I believe.

Declaring athiesm does not and will not excuse you from wrath to come.

Hard to be afraid of something I don’t believe in. The spelling, by the way is “atheist” and “atheism.“

 Signature 

Agnostics are just atheists without balls. - Stephen Colbert

Why is that an unreasonable claim?

That’s a good question and there are several answers. The first being the fact that some of the tests have been done by people who were not skeptics and didn’t necessarily expect the test to fail. The second being that no one seems to be able to define exactly what “negative” energy supposedly is, just that it’s something emitted by skeptics. Third, it doesn’t seem to be affected by distance as some have claimed that a single skeptic in the same room would screw up the experiment and others have claimed that simply a skeptic being aware of the test anywhere in the world would be enough to screw up the test. If that’s true then that would make skeptics some of the most powerful psychics ever.

Fourth, and most important, when the time comes to administer the agreed upon tests that Randi has set up, before they do the actual test the person making the claim is allowed to demonstrate his ability whatever it may be (dowsing or reading while blindfolded or what have you) in whatever way they normally do. Every single time it works as advertised. Then they administer the double blind test and every single time it fails. You would think that Randi’s presence during the initial demonstration would be enough to screw up that as well as the test itself, but it only seems to affect the test.

You mean like scientific data?

Touché! The implication being, of course, that science has been wrong before. Science and scientific data are just tools for trying to determine the facts about reality. Like any tools they can be misused and produce incorrect conclusions especially if the scientist is prejudiced on what the outcome should be.

A good scientist bases his conclusions on what the data presents and he retests the experiment several times to ensure it turns out the same way every time. He then publishes his data for peer review and several of his fellow scientists who are working in the same field attempt to recreate the experiment on their own to verify whether or not it does, indeed, seem to produce the data it’s claimed to. If it does then the theory is upheld and further experiments based on it are carried out. If it doesn’t then the good scientists will abandon it. Those folks who end up clinging to bad data because it verifies something they want to be true are practicing bad science. This is part of why how any given test or experiment is done is vitally important. A poorly designed experiment will produce some poor data.

So, are there scientists who cling to bad data regardless of what the truth might be? Absolutely. Which is why we have peer review in the first place.

Some of the most articlate posts I have ever read have come from you, and you tend to make me think of things that had never before occurred to me, and so I’m picking your brain.

Thank you, I’m very flattered. In all honesty, that’s the real reason I maintain this site is to get folks to think a little about stuff. You just made my day.

The way I see it is this: we occupy a microscopic dot in the universe, and because we have figured out how a small fraction of it works, we think we have progressed enough in our science to figure out the rest of it - when in all actuality, most of the Universe is beyond our reach. Let’s narrow this down to only those who use Tarot cards for genuine spiritual guidance, and readers who read only with genuine heart. In this context if we think of all things spiritual as something that extends the whole universe, then how could we possibly know how to even begin testing it?

This is going to be lengthy so bear with me here.

Because if it extends to the whole of the universe then that means some of it at least

has to be here

and if it’s here then it should be testable the same as gravity is. Gravity, too, seems to extend throughout the whole of the universe and we can test it regularly by simply dropping a ball. Yet I don’t see anyone debating the existence of gravity or saying that we can’t possibly test it because it extends through the whole of the Universe. If there is some real force or phenomena that make reading tarot cards produce anything that reflects reality then it should be possible to test it.

Is it possible for science to figure out how everything in the Universe works? That’s debated even among scientists. Some think we can and some don’t. I don’t think there are many scientists with the hubris to believe we’ve figured out how most of things work.

Did you know that we don’t have a clue how gravity works? We have some theories, but we haven’t proven any of them to any great degree yet. We know enough about its effect that we have all sorts of good mathematical formulas for making predictions about how it’ll affect a given thing such as the arch of an artillery shell fired at a distant target, but we don’t know how exactly gravity pulls one object to another. However, most folks seem to accept what science has to say about gravity without giving it a second thought. Why is that?

Because we can all see its effect on everything around us and seeing is believing for a lot of people.

That’s an important point which is why I set it out there on its own. Nobody disputes the existence of gravity because we can all see how it affects the world around us. The fact that science can’t explain how it works is irrelevant to most folk’s acceptance of it. The fact that science can make predictions about it and those predictions hold up in day to day use only reinforces the acceptance.

Now let us consider Tarot Cards in the same context. If there is some force or a phenomenon out there that allows someone using Tarot Cards to glean some information about possible future events, most folks can’t see its effect on things around them in day to day life as they can with gravity. Hence, most folks don’t put much stock into it. Those that do probably do so because they believe they have seen evidence that it works. Seeing is believing, again. In that way, the believers have “data” that they believe supports their conclusion. If they have data then it should be testable. When tested this data hasn’t held up under scrutiny and the common reaction is to claim that “science can’t know everything.“

The reason folks blame science when it fails to uphold something they believe in is psychological in nature. A lot of the things people believe in are things that bring a sense of comfort or control. One of the common sources of stress for most people is questions about the future. Will I lose my job during the next round of layoffs? Will little Timmy recover from his bout with pneumonia? Where will I find the money to meet all my bills? The sort of worries that we often feel we have no control over and don’t know what the outcome will be. Even if we have no control over it if we at least knew what the outcome was ahead of time we could more easily deal with it emotionally. Tarot readings seem to provide the answers to these questions and end up being a form of comfort in much the same way that people “talking to the dead” or even belief in god provides a form of comfort. When science says there’s no evidence that tarot readings provide any insight into the future it’s essentially attacking a belief that brings comfort to those who take stock in it. If tarot really doesn’t work then how will they find the answers to the questions that cause them the most stress? Rather than give up that sense of comfort many folks will just reject what the findings are saying and take stock in the idea that the forces involved are “beyond the comprehension of science!” By comparison the idea of gravity is not a matter that brings comfort or the lack of it to most people so what science has to say about gravity is rarely challenged by the average person.

 Signature 

Agnostics are just atheists without balls. - Stephen Colbert

Covie, that’s what I’m told at least.

 Signature 

Agnostics are just atheists without balls. - Stephen Colbert

Sorry Mike, we can’t all be sheep.

I can just see a minister outside the poll “Those who don’t vote the Republican party ticket will be condemned to Heyooll!“

“Independent politician” does not mean you can’t commit to a political viewpoint, it only means you don’t wholly agree with any party’s viewpoint.

Sounds like Santa Down Under needs a mesh suit like my Joe Rocket summer jacket

First, let it be known that I myself am a godless heathen… (You stole my logo Am... grrr…) :wink:

Second, hey Etan… when exactly did being Jewish change from a religion to a Race or Nationality? I’m sorry if that sounds like a snear remark, but I’ve always wondered that. Watch the History Channel sometime and listen to how Jewish is used as a noun instead of an adjective… or something like that. I’m not quite sure, I never cared for the finer points of the English language (I’ve always thought the strict standards took the voice out of a good paper).

Yo! Ive just read the comments about Dungeon Siege, and I was wondering if anyone knows where I can get the no cd crack… thx

Oh stop ur bitching, atleast you get snow. The closes we get to snow down here (Australia) is hail, and that stuff hurts. And our x-mas is smack bang in the middle of our summer, try dressing up in a santa outfit in 40 degree heat. Sometimes I wish my kids didn’t believe in Santa

Looks Like I will have to wait till some hackers enable a work around.  I have bought NSW in the past but this is not something I can deal with.  I have 5 systems in my home and I refuse to buy 5 copies.  I feel betrayed.  no more of my cash will go to these gold diggers.

Covie may have made a funny, but makes a very good point, as well.

No need to feel wierd. I used to drink when I was in the military but the problem is that I am a binge drinker and while I do not think that I am a mean drunk I am certainly an irritable one. After a case of alcohol poisoning one X-mas I decided to restrict my drinking and now only do it in times of great stress or depression. It’s not like I will feel worse.

And?

You said nary.

heh heh

Things like this happened around October for me. It snowed for a couple of days, followed by a week of 20+(Celsius) temperatures. It tricked the trees near my high school into blossoming again.

As for wanting some snow for Christmas, you can have some of ours. We have around half a foot and are certain to get more, with the temperatures lingering between -20 and -30(Celsius again)

It is quite evident that the name of this web site says it all.
To be both “athiest” and “independent politician”
is to think that you know everything - not having to commit to any set religious faction or political viewpoint.
Declaring athiesm does not and will not excuse you from wrath to come.

Les, I’m curious…

“. . .to the presence of “negative energy” from the skeptics that are present, which is hardly a reasonable claim. “

Why is that an unreasonable claim?

“For some people it almost seems like they have a need to believe in whatever their particular thing happens to be regardless of what the truth may or may not be for fear that there’s no reason to have hope if it turns out to be false. “

You mean like scientific data?

Some of the most articlate posts I have ever read have come from you, and you tend to make me think of things that had never before occurred to me, and so I’m picking your brain.

The way I see it is this: we occupy a microscopic dot in the universe, and because we have figured out how a small fraction of it works, we think we have progressed enough in our science to figure out the rest of it - when in all actuality, most of the Universe is beyond our reach. Let’s narrow this down to only those who use Tarot cards for genuine spiritual guidance, and readers who read only with genuine heart. In this context if we think of all things spiritual as something that extends the whole universe, then how could we possibly know how to even begin testing it?

I sure hope you understand what I am getting at because I think I busted a blood vessel trying to express it.