v01i0

This here is her real-life sister. -v

God rested on 7th day, but Jack Bauer didn't. -v

*cough* As I've played Eve from autumn 2003(I don't play it anymore however, I quit on december), I could say something. Cruiser can beat battleship easily. I used to beat up n0obs with battleships every second day in old man star mwd-fitted blasterax or a duramaller could work many battleships. Although my character had some skills. To beat up bs with cruiser the odds should almost certainty be pro(in cruiser) vs. n0ob(in bs). It was funny to engage those battleships near gates as they almost certainly engaged me on my cruiser since I was outlaw and sentries wouldn't protect me.. However, if I was shot upon first, I could shot back. Damn, all this eve talk makes me want to reactivate my account.. I wish I could.. *sighs* -v

Finally someone has done good job and gathered some gross stuff about Abu Ghraib within one place. Old stuff maybe, but never shown so "intensively" before. Salon.com - Abu Ghraib Files. Do you think that they were ordered to abuse detainees or were there just few madmen and -women acting on their pervertions? From what was said about OGAs, I'd think it all was ordered. -v

Here's the cartoon that caused some unrest in my hometown, let is speak for itself.. Warning! A cartoon containing images of Prophet Mohammed! Beware!

Now this mohammed-insanity have spread into the city where I live. Certain magazine's webpages published some mohammed cartoons(where some dude had some funny conversations with imaginary mohammed), and those webpages were shut down almost immediately, that guy responsible for publishing were kicked off his post. Sick. Were there once a myth called freedom of speech or expression? I don't believe this. Those behind the decision of shutting down the web page and resigning the supervisor should be taken behind the barn and shot in the neck! Actually, there were huge(huge in the scale of small finnish city) depate over the issue. And there were also a public demonstration of opinion against limiting the freedom of expression and speech. We shall see if the dude gets his post back. One have to bear in mind that all this regulation weren't from Finnish goverment which remained outsider in this quarrel. This all just shows how good finns are to selfregulate their behaviour. A skill that we learned in influence of Soviet Union. I think we need US to bring us freedom! -v PS. In my opinion, those fundamuslims are like kids next to the candyshelf. They'll cry 'till they get their will done. West should never give in it's freedom of speech, then it'll give away it's freedom(of everything).

U.S plottings? I wonder.. Will they get enough troops to invade iran? Or will they just nuke the ajatollahs? Or will they instead use airforce and submarine bombardment? Will we see another war? What do you think? -v

I have Ubuntu 5.10 running on my old pc. Had some problems during installation.. On 1st install sudo-command didn't work at all, on 2nd I porked sudo-command by setting clock showing correctly(sudo stopped working, claiming that last time stamp were too far in future, lol). But after 3rd installation I got it work. I listen mp3's, surf the net and read my mail with ubuntu. I'd change linux on my main computer but I have already paid for my windows plus that gaming would cause trouble with linux.. I wonder if any BC game would run in WINE? -v

In my opinion this whole cartoon mess is a reflection of the collision between our and arabi culture. This kind of events will occur as long as there isn't effective global culture, which will smoothen the differences between these semiglobal systems. Imagine world as a composion of global systems, those of artificial and those of natural. Cultural systems, which consists different beliefs, symbolic categories and such immaterial humane institutes is an artificial system because it didn't exist before man(all natural systems existed before and without man). All of the global systems are composisions of smaller systems that rather are local systems. These local systems gives inputs and outputs to the upper level global systems and global systems will give outputs and inputs again to the local systems. Low and high level systems cannot usually communicate directly with each others, instead their inputs and outputs have to go through various translating processess of the systems between them. Inputs(or feedbacks from other systems) can be either positive or negative. Positive feedback causes change in system while negative feedback tends to conservate the system. In my view there are various global systems(natural: geological-and biological-; artificial: economic-, political-, cultural- and media systems). One can debate whether there is a working global cultural system yet as there isn't one regonized 'worldculture'. But there certainly are values that are regonized globally by various people. These values will eventually give enough positive feedback on currently forming global culture. Now this mohammed-cartoon mess is giving negative feedback on the system, keeping it as it used to be; the christian and muslim worlds should stay separated. It feeds the fears and prejudices between these two semiglobal cultures. I'm not sure why I write this, but this is the viewpoint from where I look this mess. -v

quote: Whoever degrades or says bad junk against our troops in Iraq should go burn in hell. That includes John Kerry. In my opinion Kerry is barking wrong tree; the troops are just means, you cannot really blame them, nor a single soldier. For true villains you have to look deeper, through the smokescreen of 'war on terror'. While 'war on terror' gives a noble cause for invading country, the true reasons are much less noble. How about 'war on resources' or 'economical imperialism'? Why aren't Saddam sentenced in Hague, like all of the war criminals including Bush, Blair and few others should be done? Did allied attack without UN mandate, because otherwise Saddam would've sentenced in Hague? Cost of war in Iraq? Over 200 billions.. Benefits of the war? Priceless? -v

It appears that this Bruin Alumni Association now have withdrawn their offer for payments. And Jag, it's not all about indoctrination, it is also about the academic freedom; some of professors may refrain of saying something that may be interpret as political statement because they might be afraid of being marked as a radical. They might refrain even if it matters with their field of study. Therefore the quality of teaching may suffer from that kind of action. -v

quote: Last time I checked.. I go to college to learn about what I paid for... I do not, however, go to college to hear some idiot rant about how he hates this president and that because of what he heard on the news and crud. I agree on that as well, but then there is also question about academic freedom. I mean that the quality of teaching may suffer if teacher have to be constantly aware not saying something what may sound radical, even if it would relevant to the subject. I am referring to Douglas Kellner, one of the UCLA professors that is teaching media culture as I'm aware of. This includes critical viewing of media and therefore it may be hard to refrain of making statements that may sound radical. -v

I agree that professors should stay on the subject at hand when teaching. However, interesting on this particular case is that the founder of the UCLAprofs.com is ex-student, a post graduate. Maybe he is just worried about the america's youth, but seeing the money involved($100 for a decent memo of radical views stated by the professor in lecture), is bit conserning. -v

It seems that some people in UCLA(I'm assuming this means University of California, Los Angeles) have grown tired of their professors who critisize G.W.Bush's politics. UCLA Profs.com is offering payment to undergraduates who would turn in these professors. Professors are blamed because of their criticism towards Bush's policy and Jewish Zionism. Somewhat scary in my opinion. Let's hope it will pass. Find out more from links below: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/blogger.php http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/17/184523/391 http://www.uclaprofs.com/

nomad, viewing this matter in historic sense is just as important as viewing it in symbolic sense. Anyway, personally I'm pretty poor in history as I've never counted it objective. Archeological foundings can be refered in certain sense, just like statistics, as we've seen in previous conversations, that we've been both part on these forums I've referred it before as 'his story', always written by winners. quote: By nomad: In my personal case, I see as much a divine hand behind the Bible (or any religious text for that matter) as in the user manual of my lawn mover. I prefer the Zohar for a very subjective reason: I find it eminently more romantic than the Old Testament. We should not forget that these texts appeared at a precise epoch, in a precise context and with a precise scope. This book Zohar, which you mention, is not familiar for me. I'd appreciate if you could give a short introduction to it for me and others By the way, I've found the Sumerian epoch 'Gilgames' very interesting. They mention these masters that are able to fly. Furthermore it mentions that those master's habitant is visible in the sky. It is said that Sumerian knowledge in astrology were suporior on it's time. -v

quote: While topics like... are all very interesting no doubt, somehow I don't think they are all necessary when discussing the meaning of the word 'Lucifer' in the Bible and Christianity. I think it is necessary to view the matter from multiple angles. After all I am speculating with very old and complex history of religion, where speaking in allegoric emblems is more often rule than exception. I think that this allegoric speaking is one of the reasons that there are so many interpretations of Bible. -v

quote: As for Venus representing the woman, where do you get that from, apart from Roman pagan mythology? Doesn't that whole 'the sun is evil' conclusion seem a teensy bit tenuous, given that the sun, moon and stars are never described as having divine power (or even of being alive, except in figurative poetic contexts) in the bible, merely as the main light giver of the daytime sky, and as markers of the seasons and days: Definately Bible defines sun and stars as mentioned, but then again it might be part of purpose, which is to rid of the divinity from them. But your first question is much more difficult to answer Now, where did I get that Venus = woman impression. I didn't even remember whole roman mytology! It must be those categories that have built up within my mixed up brain. Now, following is just wild speculation, I know there are many people waiting to punch me some, so now there's a chance for it Anyway, I've been having this wild thought that Venus could actually be mother of all life in Earth. If we just assume, that sun haven't always been that hot. As we know, those events, like star that is forming up, doesen't happen very fast.. Then there might've been a chance, that Venus was first planet that beared life.. Or maybe even mercury. Let's imagine for a moment that life was born on Venus.. For sometime it was all good, but soon atmosphere on Venus started to heat up. Material on Venus started to turn into gasses and some of it left atmosphere and stormy solar winds cast it upon earth.. And life took a lift? I don't claim that I know a shit about birth of our system, and thats propably the reason that I can imagine such nonesense. -v

Quick, call in CIA for a hasty coup in Venezuela.. Oh wait, didn't they try it already. Oh bollocks, now they'll have to pull out military intervention-card. -v

quote: So, tell me about the pertinence of those ancient religious texts. There is no place for truth where religion & politics mix. This counts for Islamism, as well as Judaism and Christianism. Indeed, most of those politicians that claim to be believers are just using religion as a ride into the political power. But usage of religion is meant not only to gain voters, but it is also to control them. But that interpretation above is based on thinking that Christian's, just like many other believers, should avoid too much knowledge. Ignorance is a blessing, when it comes to the controlling people. Many so called wiches in history were burned because they sought knowledge; snake persuaded Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge, which she did. Yeah, those politicians that insists keeping politics and religions apart, are quite right. Although it is very hard to do so, since people mind's are full of symbolic meanings of different religous propaganda. -v

ÔÇÿLuciferÔÇÖ is a Latin word meaning ÔÇÿLightbringerÔÇÖ or ÔÇÿLightbearerÔÇÖ(lux ÔÇô light, genitive lucis and ferre ÔÇô to bear). It is widely interpret to mean ÔÇÿMorningstarÔÇÖ, referring to planet Venus, which again refers to the woman. Furthermore, Woman and Lucifer are connected in Bible from the beginning; it was woman who ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. It has also been claimed that Venus, when it moves through vault of heaven, draws kind of a pentagram. Therefore there certainly seems to be enough reason to claim that ÔÇÿLuciferÔÇÖ in Christian Bible is referring to Venus. But ÔÇÿLightbearerÔÇÖ could also mean Sun, if IÔÇÖm not mistaken. Throughout history there have been religions worshipping Sun. Those religions, off course, were rivals for Christianity(and for Jewishness) and it mightÔÇÖve been difficult for their priests to convince people to believe otherwise, considering how much life-birthing power Sun has. Therefore worshipping Sun mightÔÇÖve been considered same as worshipping Satan. Sun was demonized, just as Venus, ÔÇÿthe GoddessÔÇÖ, was. One might assume, that priests who were converting pagans into the Christians, mightÔÇÖve interpret ÔÇÿLuciferÔÇÖ according to their own need. Whether the pagan was worshipping ÔÇÿthe GoddessÔÇÖ or the Sun, priest couldÔÇÖve found interpretation of his need. By naming evil as ÔÇÿLuciferÔÇÖ, this religion killed two flies with one slash. The fact that ÔÇÿLuciferÔÇÖ in Christianity is often thought as a male(with some animal-like features) , seems to support a view that it is referring to the Sun rather than Venus. After all, it was woman who ate the fruit of knowledge, when she was convinced by Satan to do so. Furthermore, Satan is often referred as 'the god of this world'. It might not be very far fetched to claim that this could mean Sun, since it gives us warmth, light and energy. It is the very foundation of life itself. But wouldn't it be a bit strange to claim that sun would be evil? -v

Soback: The correlation you made in your preceeding posts about money and freedom can be applied easily to freedom and power aswell. When you are free to do something, it also means that you have the power to do something of your liking. Other way around: when you have power, you are free to do anything within the influence of that power. You can put equal(=) between any of those words(money, power and freedom) and still find correlations between every single combination. -v

quote: Originally posted by Prez: He has made enough money to retire TWICE! This is America! It CAN be done! Indeed. In many countries twice is nothing for goverment keeps taking your money everytime! But then again, there are countries where only once is suffient. -v

quote: Originally posted by Soback: If you compare economic freedom, and the ability to make money to slavery over others, then you have failed to read my next post after the question. Which DISCUSSES economic freedom and compares it to government regulation. It shows how economic freedom is NOT slavery as you are free to make money or to be a beach bum. I understood the part of text you mention above. I merely tried to show the connection between power and money(don't claim that you havent heard it before). Yes, one's money is stored labour(his or others) that can be traded. This is what the text claimed and it can be easily agreed on, at certain point. However, if one doesen't want to be a beachbum, he may have to accept to do work that his moral disagrees on. Now he is forced to do things regardless of his opposition. I merely showed that following strictly the definations of power and slavery, almost every human action including power can be defined to be slavery of some degree. That text you referred on also claimed that consumers have the ultimate power. Wrong again. Consumers have power to some extent, but ultimately power belongs to those owning the means of production and capital(sounds very Marxists). It is very true, especially in modern society. Too many people are depentant on the industrialists which owns the means of production(bear in mind, that I amn speaking in large scope, not meaning you or me, but whole society. Altho you or me may be capable to find replacement work, everyone isn't). People can't just quit their jobs and start cultivating the land or something. Their living standards(which they like to keep) are depending on the salary that someone is giving you as a trade good for your work. quote: Second, LOL, learn history. Europe expelled their criminals to Australia, NOT America. I honestly don't know what kind of history they teach in schools of america(not to mention the so called 'his''story'-books that may be commonly available). It must be very interesting history, tho I doubt it's accuracy. Anyway, while they expelled criminals in Aurstralia, they expelled em into america aswell. It was common rule in every imperialistic country to expel unwanted people into the colonies. -v

quote: Originally posted by Soback: So in light of all this I am going to ask you a question. How is socialism any different from slavery? In a way you are right. Socialism can be compared to slavery in a sense where we see it as a ideology defined by a state, which is ruled by collective that is controlling power(means of production). Furthermore defination of political power itself can be seen as a manifestation of slavery if we look at one of it's most popularily quoted definations where power is "Entity A's ability to to make Entity B do like A wants, despite B's opposition.". If we follow this kind of thinking bit more, we can conclude that economic power is manifestation of slavery as well as socialism, as money and wealth can be power. I thought that slavery was about forcing another to do something even against his will? Also slaves hardly receives any benefits of their work to themselves. I think that's where socialism(and capitalism) distinguishes from slavery most. What comes in taxation to uphold wellfare society to all, I pay it freely, as obviously does most people here in Finland(Yes, right next to Russia). Some people aren't tho, thats why they may commit taxation crimes(or what they are called..). I wish that Europe would still expel it's criminal into the america like in "ol' good times". -v

Well, there it goes again. US / CIA is paying reporters to publish BS. Reliable Source by standards of these forums. -v ps. other fine reading.