A very interesting article by someone I have a great deal of respect for. Puts several things into their proper perspective for me. Love to hear your thoughts.
But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles
And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Posted: 17 Feb 2009 00:45
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Wow, complex stuff. You know I can't say a lot really, but I do see a big danger in printing money without something to back it. Obviously it devalues the dollar every time the government prints more every time they want to spend more.
A lot of this stuff sounds like the stuff you'd honestly hear from Bible scholars about the anti-christ, one world government, end of times kind of thing. Everything is headed for a huge crisis. The world seems to be joining together financially more and more, and it does seem ripe for rule by one power mad dictator. All he has to do is promise peace and security and the people of the world will line up in goose step. __________________
Lucas McCain the Rifleman: A man doesn't run from a fight, Mark...but that doesn't mean you should go running *to* one, either.
Posted: 17 Feb 2009 02:29
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I have been posting stuff along these lines for awhile now. Not the least of which was that money as debt documentary you stickied for me in the money section. That 2 parter with Louis Farrakhan was exactly about what Robert Kiyosaki was talking about here. Also, if you have about a dozen free hours and are feeling in the mood to become suicidal at the 'big picture':
If you decide to go through all that film footage, I'll probably be finishing the book at about the same time and we can exchange notes.
A warning before you commit your time though-this stuff is not pleasant at what it suggests, it draws you in like a good mystery or spy saga and if it winds up being the slightest bit true, Hitler will be something of a fairy tale character compared to what's coming-Hitler didn't have the equivolent technology and didn't think like Alexander the Great. As much as I've shared with you already, and as much as I think you and everyone else should be presented this 'evidence', I also don't think it's fair to just start dragging people down into the depths for the simple fact it might all be paranoid propaganda. This stuff is really an extension of that 'I'm writing a book thread' I started a while back. If you haven't noticed, I haven't mentioned anything about the book in a while. Not a big surprise-that's on permanent suspension. Shame on me for it, but honestly, I'm scared to put it out there. I could say more, but that seems like plenty. I won't be upset if you don't want to get involved with any of this. Your choice. If you do watch any of it and actually want to talk any of it over, let me know-that's your choice too. __________________
But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles
And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Posted: 17 Feb 2009 02:35
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Posts: 4725
Join Date: Aug 2007
The intro to that dead project, by the way:
Introduction
I am not a scientist or philosopher. I’ve never attended a single class at any college. I hold no degrees, honors or titles and I would venture to call my high school diploma the proof of something that disturbingly resembles luck. That’s not the worst of it however. The subject of atheism itself is not new and we could debate toward its even being called a subject in the first place. There is no exciting new area to venture into, shiny bonus features or earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting revelation either. Apparently, not believing in a god has a very similar age to it as the very first god ever believed in. If you were reading this for the hope of my credentials being impressive or for some shock and awe, I sincerely thank you for your interest as you put this back where you found it. Please instead find something a little more accredited, shocking or awful to your personal taste, which should be quite simple. Of course, you could stick around and just find something to argue about anyways. I’m up for it.
If you are still here thanks will now go toward your sense of adventure in equal measure to your expenditure of time. Since I offer no credential, I feel obligated to sell you on the ideas and intended purpose of this harmless trifle of a book. I certainly owe you this much seeing as you’ve stuck it out with me this far. I will do my honorable best to make it worth your while.
I had been debating with myself for some time on what type of experience I should be offering to the reader. I had so much to say on such a broad scope as would cause a seizure to think on it too long. I do have plenty to share with you. The first choice I made was between teaching primarily or even exclusively by lecture like a textbook; telling you what things are, or to pursue a form of entertainment primarily instead. With an entertainment foundation I would present challenges or ideas and by example allow you to figure out things for yourself. The first has been beaten to death and I can say it was never really fun in the first place. Most of my heroes to this very day remain entertainers; singers, writers and comedians. I had no choice as to this being an attempt at entertainment given those options. I owe my heroes that much and they won’t mind if I occasionally sneak a lesson in.
Now that the type of endeavor had been selected, I had to decide on exactly what type of entertainment. One very short lived consideration was to do something of an epic poem. This is not entirely out of the question for another project I have in mind but here I got the sneaking suspicion that I would have simply used it to replace one set of stories with another, an object of power for another and beings of power with another. I am not out to create a new religion regardless of who that might entertain. I hear having a sense of humor actually prevents you the ability to create one anyways.
I love comedy. Holding sacred things up to the light of day and mocking them is a strong suit of mine but I had to wonder if I actually had anything new to offer here. George Carlin, in my humble opinion, probably said everything that needs to be said in this particular venue. Out of respect to one of my top heroes, I couldn’t possibly do justice to this material properly using comedy without the slightest unintentional or outright theft of his material and I don’t need scripture to tell me that theft is wrong. With the subject matter itself, the answer was obvious all along; magic. I don’t mean here the pretense of breaking natural laws so much as I am referring to the types of magic offered by a few of my other heroes. They would be James Randi and Penn & Teller, in short order. What they do for their audience, at least the part of the audience that wrote what you are reading, is use ‘illusion’ to show that there is no illusion. They remove the mystical properties of events and ideas and still leave you to wonder at the event or idea in a new fashion and now the fact that you believed in the mystical in the first place. Through all that, you are still entertained and you still laugh and you can find amazement in the realm of the real. I can think of no grander endeavor than magic with a moral.
It was decided; I would actually do some form of magic. I’ve seen plenty of books that mislead on purpose but I have to say I’ve never seen a book that actually was the trick. Penn & Teller had one about playing cruel tricks on your dearest friends, but I don’t do cruel and you aren’t my friend yet. That brought to mind the Christopher Nolan film “The Prestige”. I cannot praise this film enough so I will simply take the explanation offered in it by Michael Caine’s character Cutter on what magic is. To paraphrase, magic is broken down into three acts; the pledge, the turn and the prestige. The pledge would be to offer something ordinary to the audience to begin with, up to and including their intimate inspection of it. The turn is the moment when something extraordinary is produced from the ordinary thing originally presented. While not fully aware of it, something has happened somewhere and you just know it did. The prestige itself is the showmanship of the piece. This is where, as Cutter puts it, ‘lives hang in the balance’ as the effect of the illusion is finally highlighted for the audience and you find out what particular something has happened.
I have some magic to share with you all; believer and nonbeliever alike.
First will be the pledge. I will offer for your closest inspection a hearty cross section of deception tactics. I will then present a suggested common vocabulary so that we may know that we are indeed, all on the same page. Using that vocabulary I will then lay out a few simple facts and observations about atheism in general and a few pointers about my personal views in as factual a manner as I am able. Just remember that the ordinary, though not necessarily fun, is the basis for the pledge and a necessity to pull off the trick. Trying to be funny or charming here would be a trick all on its own. You should learn something either way. I’m told all the time how funny and charming I am so the odds look good for your entertainment value.
Next comes the turn, where the ordinary does something extraordinary, just a little off center of your immediate consciousness. Here I will display for you the articles and makeup of beliefs and believing and faith. I am compelled to include also the common arguments between an atheist and a theist you might notice becoming more and more frequent in your daily endeavors online and during your news entertainment programs or perhaps even in just small talk. I might even just show you how God exists and why we might need him which is certainly something you would have never expected in a book by a self proclaimed atheist. I am that good. This is but a part of the magic and it’s not even the best part yet.
Lastly is the prestige. The fun part you take away with you that you want to tell your friends about while at the same time you just don’t want to ruin the discovery for them either. This is the payoff of the trick; the effect of the illusion where lives hang in the balance. Something you’ve not seen before that changes some small part of you from that point on.
No fair peeking behind the curtain. It’s a much better trick if you could, just this once, delay your gratification. I would say it’s more for your benefit than mine to get there on schedule, which in turn might mean more of a benefit elsewhere. If you could have back the sense of childlike curiosity you’ve probably outgrown by now, I would say it best not to cheat yourself by giving it away so easily, especially for the possibility of a greater reward than just knowing the end at the beginning.
As soon as you have settled yourself in we shall begin.
Stop me if you’ve seen this one.
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I'm actually working out the kinks for a Smallville fanfiction now instead, if that's any clue. Nobody should want to kill me over that really(not in a very real literal sense anyway). __________________
But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles
And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Posted: 17 Feb 2009 08:13
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Posts: 4725
Join Date: Aug 2007
I gotta say again, I love getting something in my subs at YT that adds to a discussion I was just having. If I believed in mysticism, I'd be mystified, I swear.
In any case, 2 quick hits from Ron Paul, back in 1988.
__________________
But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles
And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Posted: 17 Feb 2009 15:29
Administrator Currently Offline
Posts: 4786
Join Date: Jul 2007
A lot of content to get into. Doubt if I'll have time today to delve into it all. With the economy on the rocks every minute counts. __________________
Lucas McCain the Rifleman: A man doesn't run from a fight, Mark...but that doesn't mean you should go running *to* one, either.
