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inte veck
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do not fold

Loneliness and God

When people are desperate , they do desperate things.It is assumed by
many that the poor are so because they are lazy.Indolence means
poverty in the common speak. Some things like people dying in the
streets are simply ignored, and this year has shown that visual
effects rather than necessity turns people towards charity. Much more
were given after dramatic pictures from Katrina victims and Tsunami
Effects were shown in TV that people usually do.
People are mostly good ,which I agree. But the stereotype that poor
are lazy is plainly wrong. It was also stated during some major
research into poverty that many poor actually work ,but only that they
don't earn enough. Maybe in the day of nanotechnology ,in which money
will play no role as it would be easier to make paper money, we will
see what the divide between the rich or poor being gapped will
portend. But it has been argued by economist that the present money
based economy is the best,because it simply awards hard work. Most
people who are successful are able to sell themselves to the economy
thereby garnering money from the various components of economics. But
those who are poor are simply not working hard enough .The argument
falls when you consider peerage and status. For a good economy from a
philosophical view of point ,people should get what they deserve .That
means if you work really hard and are willing to go the extra mile you
should be successful. But unfortunately a factor called luck has been
left out. Nobody in this world is born equal. What you are ,what
education you get, and what chances you may receive depends largely
upon where you are born, who are your parents, how good looking are
you, how rich and influencial your parents are and other factors like
this which doesnot make everybody equal. George W.Bush got into Yale
and Harvard not because he of merit(he was a C student) but because of
the fact that his parents were influential and rich.
It is not expected that a child born in Sudan will fare any better or
equal to any child born in
US(except if the child is born to a very rich family in Sudan). Good
looks is also a big factor. You hardly see a ugly looking guy being
successful. Yes if you are lacking some stuffs you have to go the
extra mile. Marlyn Monroe changed her haircolor worked day in and out,
did some provocative shoots for her day , made aquaintances with the
top producers and even though she came from a failed family and
turbulent childhood she became famous. Though it has been argued that
she is not "better" looking than many of her counterparts. But it must
be said that she is not what you call ugly.
This much for now.
pwned

ViewSonic E40 goes blank ,but when tilted or whacked comes back up

My monitor ViewSonic E40 went blank but the LED was still blinking ,so
I did some search looked up some schematics and came up with the
conclusion that a device called NE555 timer or MOSFET is not
functioning properly.The strange thing about the monitor is that when
tilted a bit or when whacked ,the picture comes back.I used to whack a
bit ,to bring up the computer when one day it simply stopped working
.So however hard I whacked there was no picture.Then I tilted the
computer at various angles and learnt that that is another solution to
no picture problem.Let me see if I can get hand on the timer now.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:The Worst Movie of all time

I can understand why very poor quality movies like Gigli or Catwomen
are made.They had a idea , some sort of a plot but very poor
implementation and acting.Nothing in those movies seems to work
out.But given good actors ,good directors and good handling of plot
,even those movies could become watchable.
I went to watch the new Harry Potter movie today and it was the worst
of the worst.It was the biggest waste of time and money over a movie I
had had this year.Or maybe my life. I had read the book and I do
think JK Rowling had produced a good book .The quality of her work (as
the Harry Potter phenomenon catched up and become a large business)
steadily declined. The
5th and the 6th books are frankly terrible. Things like creativity
,originality and good literary sense were thrown down the toilet. She
afterall had all the "Potter" fans to be crap but still followed
around.
Now about the movie.It was a piece of junk ,not only because of
acting(in LOTR ,nobody remembered the acting, just everyone was saying
how good the movie was) ,plots(based upon a good book) or CGI(good
enough) but very bad direction.The movie was deviod of emotion and a
thing called continuity.Random events seemed to happen.Each of the
takes seemed as if somebody had randomly cut off the movie scene and
put them together. The child actors lacked appeal and more importantly
seemed to know nothing about acting.
It is suprising that it has already grossed $400 million but I would
hope that most of them had gone hoping to see a good family flick but
come home disappointed.

Energy and God

When I was in college there was a guy who used to tell me that God
exists and he/she is representive of energy.He was a science student
and he knew much more about primordial soup(where life originated)
,big bank(from where the current universe expanded ,and reached its
current form, no account for parallel universes) , and evolution.But
he told me that he believed in God , an omnipresent and omniscient
allpowerful God.And the God is energy. He told me that big bang
happened because of God,as God envisioned it, and so on for the origin
of Life or the solar system. I laughed at him at that time,but
retrospectively I think he is correct.If you think energy is God ,then
it has all the characteristics of God.Nothing in the world happens
without energy from the ATP in your cells to nuclear reactions in
Sun/Stars. So it could be said that God(energy) designed life,
universe and created it to the current form.
No argument that!

Time Dilation,Astrology, and Relativity.

Anybody who has a remote knowledge about general relativity of Albert
Eistein could tell you about Time Dilation. Time dilation means that
time dilates when your present speed(velocity) approaches the speed of
light. The dilation is minor when velocity is small.In other words,
people who travel a lot in airplanes and astronauts are a fraction
younger than those of us who stay in earth. Yes it's true and has been
scientifically proven already. Now that means that time is not a
constant, which means that one hour time measured in earth would be
different from one hour time measured some other place. As always I
recommend reading wikipedia's page about time dilation.Now relativity
states that like other axises ,time could be theoritically travelled
and it could be stretched and jumped. It makes sense when you compare
with the other dimensions like space ,you can jump forward ,backwards
or stay at the same place. It is only the matter of energy and
theoritical time travel machines(which would actually work if built)
are already envisioned and designed. There are serious problems with
implementation of those machines which would mean that there is very
little chance of anyone seeing those machines quickly. Now ,according
to relativity it seems that like space time is out there .In other
words , like yesterday tomorrow is already there ,or what happens
tomorrow or any future time is already fixed. That is it is fatalistic
view of tomorrow.You really have no control of what happens next, if
you follow this theory. Now some scientific minded supporters of
astrology have pointed out to me that from relativity you can see that
future is fixed, or astrology works. They see the planets as some
blueprint of the already fixed tomorrow.
Scary picture that!

Astrology- it works!?

I came across a Hindu astrology book which gave me a very interesting
reading.It was comparing birth charts(horoscopes) of two Indians with
identical charts.
It appeared that one of them was from a very prominent family and had
enough money for a good education.
The other was from a poor family and was thus forced to study in a
government school(in Utter Pradesh,India) one of the poorest parts of
the country with dilapated school buildings and very poor education
methods and instructors.
Without the help of astrology I could have said ,it is likely that the
man from the rich family went on to be very successful whereas the one
from the poor family was left poor.Education do matter a lot in
India,and people with very good education (like IIT, the renowned
Indian Institute of Technology) are mostly very successful in life.
Now from an astrological viewpoint,it turned out that they had
similiar charts.Both had 5 planets exalted(special points in horizon
where planets are supposed to be very strong) out of possible 7.Hindu
astrology counts Moon and Sun as planets and the outer planets(Uranus
,Neptune and Pluto) are not included.So it should be (from an
astrological viewpoint) that they both should live successful lives.
It turns out that the poor one just for subsistence sake got a
government job, then he raped a minor ,and currently he is spending
his quality time in jail, whereas the rich one is head of a MNC(Multi
National Company) in Dubai.See just as I would have predicted(though,
without astrology).
Now the book explains the disparity between the two(with similiar
charts) amazingly.
Apparently, the birth charts and its effects depends upon place,
situations, parents and time.What a nice way to say 'astrology is
fake'.
Robin

Fark Vs Something Awful

Flame on in both forums as both sucks.I think that there should be
someway that those who participate in these flame wars could come face
to face,so some real blood could be spilled.
Meanwhile ,flame on Morans. And all your brains are belong to us.

The most racist country in the World(Continued)

I will be giving the reasons for calling Denmark the most racist
country in the world.There are probably 20 million and a google search
would probably bring it more detailed discussion about Denmark.
http://www.google.com.np/search?q=%22far+right%22+denmark&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
One story here
"

A local radio station in Copenhagen has called on its listeners to
throw out Muslims or alternatively kill them.

"We need to fight against Islamic terrorism either by throwing the
Islamists out of Western Europe or by killing off all the fanatics or
in other words by killing a large share of Muslim immigrants," said
Kaj Wilhelmsen, who owns and runs the local radio station Radio
Holger.
"
from
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/aug2005/kill_muslims.htm
I would like to state here that due to international condemnation
the radio was "suspended" for 1-2 months and no legal action was
taken.Clearly it is the norm in Denmark.

The most racist country in the World

This I have to quote ,from an American who recently visited Denmark.
"
According to many foreigners Denmark is now the most racist country
in Europe. For me it is without comparison the worst racism since it
is the only one I am responsible for. Institutionalized racism might
be worse in America, but since the Danes are more outspoken in their
views and have not learned the political correctness of Americans,
individual racism is far more extreme over here. Indeed, when I
recently lived in the Ku Klux Klan head quarter in America it struck
me after weeks of interviewing the Klan members that they had less
hate in their hearts than what I find in my fellow Danes right now.
Here are a few of my photos from the Danish political scene
"
http://www.american-pictures.com/gallery/denmark/

Cross Sums(Kakuro)

After the popularity of Sudoku,a new game is about to become as popular as Kakuro.When Guardian,London changed its format to Berliner,it added a section called diversions in G2,the magazine section of the newspaper.It also started giving cross sums(american) or Kakuro(british) everyday in the same section.The first thing I noted was that it is much difficult than Sudoku,until I got the combinations that is .
Kakuro is somewhat like Sudoku(you have to fill 1-9 in the empty boxes),but the difference is that the numbers in a run should total to a sum printed either to the left or at the top of the run.
The technique to tackle Kakuro is little different.Since same numbers are not allowed in a run, you have the possible unique combinations.
For two spaces -16,17,4,3
For three spaces-6,7,24,23
For four spaces 10,11,29,30
For five spaces 15,16,34,35
For six spaces 21,22,38,39
The unique combinations like 4(3/1) helps to solve the puzzle.
For more information I suggest the wikipedia page again,but you can download the game
itself (free) from here

Another interesting Game

Another interesting game,but the images were taken with Acquire Screenshot of Gimp 2.0.I love gnuchess and its X interface xboard.For those who are lost gnuchess is a Linux based chess engine and xboard its graphical interface.

The game goes:


1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd1 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. a3 Bc5 7. Bc4
O-O 8. b4 Bd4(1)

9. Nge2 b6 10. O-O Bb7 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Ne2 Nxe4
13. Nxd4 Ne5 14. Bb3 Qh4 15. Nf3 Nxf3+ 16. Qxf3(2)
d5 17. Rd1 Rac8
18. Bxd5 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Rxc2(3)

20. Be3 Qf6 21. Rad1 Qxf3 22. gxf3 Nf6
23. Re5(4)

Rc3 24. a4 Rc4 25. Re7 Rxb4 26. Rxa7(5)

Rb3 27. Rd6 b5 28. a5 h6
29. a6 Rb1+ 30. Kg2 Rb2 31. Rb7(6)

Ra2 32. a7 Nh7 33. Rb8 f6 34. Rdd8
Kf7 35. a8=Q(7) Rxa8 36. Rxa8 Rxd8 1-0

Intellligent Design In Court

Eleven parents in PA are putting the ID debate on in the American Way,
through the courts that is.They are challenging that teaching ID in
schools voilates the seperation of Church constitutional clause.
The "liberal" ACLU is taking up the case against a school in Dover,PA
arguing that ''This clever tactical repackaging of creationism does
not merit consideration," Witold Walczak, legal director of the
Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union and a lawyer for the
parents, told US District Judge John E. Jones in opening arguments.
''Intelligent design admits that it is not science unless science is
redefined to include the supernatural."
I hope that the issue get's resolved round here.ID was never a science
and never will not be science ,however arcane and obtruse arguments
the ID proponents make.Unfortunately today's Guardian reported that
45% of Americans believe creativism.
I don't think that you can change that figure,for them patroitism =God
,but for the majority 55% sake it's time to act.

Great Optical Illusion

See this picture

Follow these steps
1)Concentrate on the 4 dots for around 40 seconds
2)Take a look at a smooth/monochromed(single colored) wall near you
3)You will probably see a circle of light(developing)
4)Start blinking for a number of times ,whence you will see a figure of somebody.
The trick of this illusion is not how amazing this is ,but to find the reason behind the illusion.This illusion has been called by some to be the greatest optical illusion of all time.
I would love to hear from anybody who could find how the illusion occurred.
(If not I will give the answer the next week).

My best chess game(Against the computer)

Playing against Arasan 5.2 I notched up this impressive win.Arasan's ELO is around 2000 to 2200 which means that it is much weaker than a Grandmaster but much stronger than an average chess player.
I love this game as this game shows the strategy required to beat the computer in its own game.The key is the suprise move,as the computer can compute far more nodes in a second than you can probably in your whole lifetime.
The game goes(French Defense,Exchange Variation)
1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. exd5 exd5
4. Nc3 Qe7+
5. Be3 Be6
6. Nf3 Nf6
7. Be2 c6
8. O-O Nbd7
9. Ne5 O-O-O
10. Bf4 Nxe5(see picture)

11. dxe5 Nd7 (Why not Bxe5,the answer the Rook and the Queen is in the same diagonal,potential to a attack from the Bishop)
12. Qd2 Re8
13. a3 Bf5 (if not a3 then Black could have played Qb4)
14. Rfe1 Qe6
15. Bd3 Bc5
16. Rac1 Be7
17. b4 Qg6
18. Qe3 Nb6 (the a7 pawn is a easy bunny without support,see picture)

19. Na4 Nxa4 (Knight Sacrificed to gain superb position,computer should have rejected the sacrifice)
20. Qxa7 Kd8 (forced, if king does not move then
20.Qa8+ Kc7(Kd6 follows e6 threatens mate and Queen is lost)
21.e6+ and mate follows)
21. Qxb7 Qe6 (why Qe6 why not Ref8?)
22. Bxf5 Nc5 1-0(picture)

Hurricane Rita is Coming

I hope that the respone to Hurricane Rita would be much better than that of Katrina.I will add more on Rita later on,but right now there are two pages to track Hurricane Rita
1) Disaster Center's Rita Page
2) National Hurricane Center
From wikipedia,
Hurricane Rita is the seventeenth named storm, ninth hurricane and fifth major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm has already impacted Florida and Cuba, and currently threatens Texas and Louisiana, with the National Hurricane Center of the United States forecasting it as of 11 pm EDT, September 20, 2005 to become as high as a Category 5 with a landfall sometime on September 24, near Galveston and Houston in Texas.

Google Talk and Ad Sense

I used to use the open source Jabber Instant messanger while my college days.I miss using Jabber,it has lot of features which I could not say about the irritating IMs with ads from Yahoo or MSN.
Jabber uses the XMPP protocal. The main advantage is that it is open source, meaning that anyone can deploy /develop their own IMs based upon the protocal.
The advantages according to the wikipedia page are
Advantages

* Open : the jabber protocols are free, open and public. Making it easy to implement clients or servers
* Standard : The jabber protocols XMPP is a IETF(Internet Engineering Task Force) standard
* Decentralized : anyone can run their own Jabber server
* Secure : It is possible to encrypt the communication between client and server.
* Extensible : New feature can be added to the protocol, using the power of XML namespaces.
IETF's main aim is to standarize web protocals.
Those days were long gone but XMPP is back with a bang,thanks to Google again.
The much superior Google Talk (as compared to other IMs) features open protocals ,no adds, multi messanger connectivity(ie you can use Gaim in Linux or Trillian in Windows to connect and chat), and high quality voice chat.
I highly recommend using the IM in place of MSN or yahoo.
In my final note, I am using Google AdSense in this page,which (I think) pays me $0.01 for every search/add that is done through the Google bars/text box. Unfortunately,I don't know that I will earn $100(the minimum amount for payment).It takes 10,000 distinct(that is differnt computers) to search through the google boxes.
And I needed Linux and Scholar searches ,( I modified their code so that you could search Linux/Scholar) and I don't know whether that adds up the clicks or not.
Hope it does.
If you want to know about adsense, read this page

My response(Continued)

It has become a interesting series of emails that I am publishing here.
My response to the previous answer from the preacher(admin) follows.
Thanks for your response.I don't think that you know about
SHOUTING or
did you deliberately used the uppercase letters?
Anyway your response opens up further queries.I hope that you would take the time to
answer taking the time off from your busy schedule of spreading the words about God.

For example on the question about infanticide you pointed out that it
is wrong to add wrong with another wrong,ie it is a "Sin" to
abort on being raped,but if let's say the rapist is a family
member,the child is a product of an incest,then what?
Should the child still not be aborted? If no, what should be the
child's status from a purely theological or a Christian view point.
As for the ID debate probably you know about the recent controversies
about the documentary "March of the Penguins".ID supporters are using
arcane examples from such far off thing as a documentary to try to
"prove their case".Are you sure that the
books that you are referring to do not allude to similiar blunders as
it later turned out that the "family values" of the Penguins were also
coupled with homosexuality and polygamous behavior.
I think that there is much Science can't explain ,but to work as a
scientific theory shouldn't ID should have at least one scientific
paper with proofs so that others could repudiate or check up the claims.
As for the warlords and muslims -aren't you blaming them for their
own way of expressing their respect for God as they see it?
And how come a child born to a muslim or a non muslim mother in
Somalia could be any different from a child born to anyone in
America?
I agree that I have not understand your rhetoric,your ideas and your
approach.Maybe I am ignorant but does not God loves everybody either
the person is Atheist or not?
And what about the suffering from Katrina,you blamed prostitution and
drugs for the suffering in the Gulf Coast ,but how
can you say that a child or the the old patients in the hospital(that
was left without support/care) were responsible for their untimely death?
How come that it is found that Canadians(where Gay marriage is legal
and social services is one of the the best) people are more happy than
say in many theist socities?
How come the priests that were accused of child-molestation were never
fully investigated from the church,let alone unfrock them?
How come the number of non-believers(infidels) are increasing day by day?
Hope to hear from you soon
And thanks for your reply

Linux and Indexed Search

There is lot of options for index search in Linux.
Depending upon what you are looking for the following searches might come handfull-
1)Apropos or man-k
Man -k searches the man pages for the text that you inputted.For example you might want to find the possible commands /and tutors for vim.
man -k vim
returns the possible commands with with description containing the word vim.
For man -k to work you need to do
makewhatis
(to update the index)
2)htdig
You can crawl your intranet and index files in the intranet with htdig.If you want you can crawl the whole internet(think about time and space consideration).
Now you can use htdig to search for files/pdfs/etc.
More information here
3)For local indexed search you can use rlocate ,slocate and locate.
Unfortunately it is not user friendly or should I say 'ID10T free'.
It has all the functions of google desktop,but you must create a database (or index) at start by the command
updatedb
More information here

Clutter in the blog

There is so much problem with formatting that I have used the HTML tag
<pre> to preformat some of this blog.That means that some blogs are
comming out of margin.I will fix these on the weekend probably and
hopefully.If I don't lazy,that is!

March of the Penguins and ID

The documentary March of the Penguins has stirred quite a controversy. ID supporters are claiming that the documentary shows family values among penguins thereby validating ID.For those who have not watched the documentary ,it concerns the annual journeys of Penguins which plays a vital part in the breeding and survival. Both parents of the a chick have to go through an arduous journey to make sure that the chick survives.
The documentary is a hit.It has grossed more money from any documentary with the exception of Fahrenheit 911.
Unfortunately like other claims by ID supporters the claim that family values is shown in nature by the Penguins is seriously flawed.It has been found that "non family values and crime" like homosexuality /incest is quite prevalent in animals.
Thus their claims fall through,and I could probably say that homosexuality is propounded by God himself.If not how come the animals show these "abherrant" behavior.
It has been found out by now that the Gay Gene is partly responsible for gays to be Gay.So how come the gay gene is created by God himself.Does not make sense!
But after all how can a religious homophobic fanatic make sense at all!

Response to my questions(about ID and God)

The admin uses SHOUTING ostentisiouly in this reply.In the ongoing debate about
ID ,I think his reply merits publication.I will publish my response
very soon.
"> Let me take a copy of your letter and give a brief response to your
questions. There are lots of things that no one has an answer to, but
these are the kinds of questions we deal with in our materials and
many of them are in previous bimonthlies on our web site. I will use
caps to identify my respoonses. John Clayton
> Thanks for the reply.I was not expecting one.Now I am open to ideas
> and opinions(may not sound like that from my earlier email).But I want
> to know if you answer the following questions:
> If God is omnipresent and ominscient then why
> 1)There is so much suffering in earth? BECAUSE OF HUMAN GREED, SELFISHNESS AND STUPIDITY. IT ISN'T THAT WE DON'T HAVE THE ABILITY TO TAKE CARE OF EVERYONE. GOD HAS GIVEN US THE RESOURCES, WE ARE JUST TOO SELFISH TO DO IT AS A SPECIES.
> 2)Why INNOCENT people (mostly poor) has to face the wrath of nature
> and rich people(katrina, Gujarat etc) FIRST OF ALL, THEY AREN'T SO INNOCENT. SECONDLY BECAUSE PEOPLE DON'T FOLLOW WHAT GOD SAID TO DO. THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM ADDRESSES POVERTY AND NEED. BUILDING A CITY BELOW SEA LEVEL AND USING THE BULK OF IT FOR PROSTITUTION AND DRUGS IS NOT A CREATION OF GOD, IT IS A PRODUCT OF THE REJECTION OF GOD'S TEACHINGS.
> 3)Why God comes up as not an unifier but an force which divides people? BECAUSE PEOPLE WON'T FOLLOW WHAT GOD HAS SAID. READ MATT 5-7 AND SEE IF YOU THINK WHAT JESUS TAUGHT WOULD DIVIDE.
> 4)Why so much anti-semitism and other forms of racism is prevalent? SAME ANSWER AS ABOVE
> 5)How come if somebody is raped and she gets an abortion, that is
> "infacticide" not self-dignity. BECAUSE THE INNOCENT BABY WAS NOT THE CAUSE OF THE RAPE. DOING ONE WRONG TO CORRECT ANOTHER NEVER WORKED AND NEVER WILL. I HAVE THREE ADOPTED CHILDREN WHO ARE THANKFUL THAT THEIR BIOLOGICAL MOTHERS WERE STRONG ENOUGH NOT TO MURDER THEM FOR SELFISH INTERESTS.
> 6)How come those who support ID or the geocentric universe or even the
> miracles of God(Shroud of Turin ,etc) have not given anything to the
> world,but as I already told are always instrumental in starting
> wars,famine etc. THERE IS A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ID AND GEOCENTRIC OR SHROUD ISSUES. WHO STARTS THE WARS, THE PEOPLE OR THE POLITICIANS? YOU'RE SAYING THAT PEOPLE LIKE ISSAC NEWTON, PASCAL, MAXWELL, (SEE OUR BIMONTHLY FOR COUNTLESS OTHERS) NEVER HAVE GIVEN ANYTHING TO THE WORLD. THAT SIXTH QUESTION IS A HORRIBLY IGNORANT STATEMENT.
> 7)If God creates everyone equal, does a child in Somalia compare to a
> child born anywhere in America? IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE WARLORDS, YES. IT IS ATHEISM THAT HAS CAUSED SOMALIA, CHINA, STALIN, AND EVEN HUSSEIN ( TALK TO MUSLIMS ABOUT WHAT HUSSEIN REALLY BELIEVES). SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST IS THE RELIGION USED TO JUSTIFY WHAT IS GOING ON IN THESE SITUATIONS.
> 8)If some form of ID is possible ,why THERE IS NO PROOF of yet.? I ASSUME YOU HAVEN'T READ THE ID BOOKS. THEY OFFER STATISTICAL PROOF AS WE HAVE DONE IN OUR MATERIALS, THAT BLIND CHANCE IS NOT AN ADEQUATE MECHANISM FOR WHAT WE SEE IN THE NATURAL WORLD. YOU ARE CRITICIZING SOMETHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND AND MAKING STATEMENTS THAT ARE SIMPLY NOT TRUE. PLEASE DO SOME READING SO YOU KNOW WHAT THE FACTS ARE. YOU ARE PARROTING BLIND ATHEIST RHETORIC THAT HAS NO FACTUAL SUPPORT, AND FLIES IN THE FACE OF WHAT IS KNOWN. "

Emmy Awards

Emmy award winners were disclosed yesterday.The Winners and Losers show a interesting reading. Clearly ,"the homophobic(Will and Grace)", and "a show with no family values(Desperate Housewives)" plays second fiddle to the totally crap show like Everybody Loves Raymond.I don't think that I need to say more,but I am happy though that Lost won.In the day in which reality shows showed what they can do driving a possible contender to suicide it does not seem suprising that the same show won the emmys for best reality television.Now wonder that! or is it.

Google Desktop

If you are not already using Google Desktop ,I think it is high time that you do it.
Google Desktop creates an index(or cache) of local files ,and let you search the files or what is contained in the file through a web browser much like the famous google internet search.
There are many advantages of Google Desktop
The new version allows you to get from stock rates ,weather to current news easily.It also allows you to search all files (or the files that you want to include in the index). For example if you had a pdf or a doc file containing some vital piece of information ,and after using the file you push the file to some unknown corner of the computer, your search option is the standard windows search.Unfortunately,it is not only slow but might take hours to find the relevant piece of information.
Enters, google desktop, you just type your search words in the google taskbar panel,and you get a chance to open the pdf file or the doc file pronto.
Google's desktop page lists the benefits
# Get all your personalized info in one place with Sidebar
# Launch applications and search instantly with Quick Find
# Find all your email, files, photos, web history, Gmail, and more
# Search conveniently in Outlook with the Outlook Toolbar
You can download the desktop it from here
There are also plugins which you can use to enhance the desktop.
Google desktop only works in WinXP and Win2k.
I must say that Windows also have an indexing service which could rightfully be said to be crap.It takes too much time, is not turned on by default,it does not allow resources to be free during computer usage(google desktop indexes only the computer is idle), and is too useless for discussion.

Re: Thanks for supporting God

Hi
Thanks for the reply.I was not expecting one.Now I am open to ideas
and opinions(may not sound like that from my earlier email).But I want
to know if you answer the following questions:
If God is omnipresent and ominscient then why
1)There is so much suffering in earth?
2)Why INNOCENT people (mostly poor) has to face the wrath of nature
and rich people(katrina, Gujarat etc)
3)Why God comes up as not an unifier but an force which divides people?
4)Why so much anti-semitism and other forms of racism is prevalent?
5)How come if somebody is raped and she gets an abortion, that is
"infacticide" not self-dignity.
6)How come those who support ID or the geocentric universe or even the
miracles of God(Shroud of Turin ,etc) have not given anything to the
world,but as I already told are always instrumental in starting
wars,famine etc.
7)If God creates everyone equal, does a child in Somalia compare to a
child born anywhere in America?
8)If some form of ID is possible ,why THERE IS NO PROOF of yet.?
There are countless other questions,but these would do for start.
Robin

On 9/18/05, XXXX@aol.com <XXXX@aol.com> wrote:
> God doesn't speak through preachers. He speaks through the creation and
> through His word. That is what our site does - it deals with evidence - not
> hot air vocalizations by humans. John Clayton

Re: Thanks for supporting God

By the way I got the reply I was looking for .It was probably the
admin of doesgodexist.com

"God doesn't speak through preachers. He speaks through the creation
and through His word. That is what our site does - it deals with
evidence - not hot air vocalizations by humans." John Clayton

Thanks for supporting God! A message to the IDians

HI
God has spoken in favor of Evolution.God has also spoken through
thecomputer which I am typing ,and the skeptics dictionary.God has
spokenthrough Bible, the greatest text in the world. Well I just know
that it was the preachers who opposed the concept of earth's
revolution to the sun, they were too preoccupied in their geocentric
earth.
I just remembered it was 500 years ago.Now in the 21st century ,God
has spoken again in favor of the preachers who say that evolution and
scientists are evil.Just remembered that your site was set up mainly
because the evil scientists "CREATED" computers for starters.
Hope to hear from the God again.
Rbn

Time for rethinking of the ID debate

Come on everyone knows it ,no Intelligent Design was behind
evolution.When televangists and religious fundamentalists start to
back such a theory you start to wonder what exactly it is.
According to skeptic's dictionary
Intelligent design (ID) refers to the theory that intelligent causes
are responsible for the origin of the universe and of life in all its
diversity. Advocates of ID maintain that their theory is scientific
and provides empirical proof for the existence of God or
superintelligent aliens. They believe that design is empirically
detectable in nature and in living systems. They claim that
intelligent design should be taught in the science classroom because
it is an alternative to the scientific theory of natural selection.
Wikipedia have a comprehensive page on ID
ID on wikipedia
There are two sites
Does God Exists?

Teleological arguments in favor of God<
in support o Creativity.
In my personal thinking ,those people who fear science are actually
shouting ID in their full voice.Science has given us everything
including the computer I'm typing in.If ID exists ,and God exists they
exist in the minds of people ,but should never be taught in schools.

German Election

Germany is going to the elections today.The biggest economy chooses a
chancellor and the course of Germany today.The last time Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder was elected there was hope as the government also
encompassed greens. Now the conservative Merkel seems a safe bet with
tough anti-immigration nazi policies in the cards.Germans are scared
,scared of the foreigners and the loss of jobs and the loss of the
welfare state thanks to the politicians who are inciting these
fears.If you ask most Germans they would blame immigrants /foreigners
to their plight.No wonder the nazis are winning!

Complety Onesided,me!

Somebody called me one sided today.I don't disagree to this though
I often see the world in my perspective,and could be described as
obduarate.I still think Britney Spears sucks,but I liked Christiana
Aguiliera not only for the brilliant song 'beautiful' but to rather the
feminist view presented in her album stripped.If you listen to the
album there are lyrics like

Can't hold us down
example:
So what am I not supposed to have an opinion
Should I be quiet just because I'm a woman
Call me a bitch cos I speak what's on my mind
Guess it's easier for you to swallow if I sat and smiled
Fighter
Fighter
'Cause it makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter

Oh, ohh

I'm ok
I'm ok
Once upon a time there was a girl
In her early years she had to learn
How to grow up living in a war that she called home
Never know just where to turn for shelter from the storm
Hurt me to see the pain across my mother's face
Everytime my father's fist would put her in her place
Hearing all the yelling I would cry up in my room
Hoping it would be over soon

Bruises fade father, but the pain remains the same
And I still remember how you kept me so afraid
Strength is my mother for all the love she gave
Every morning that I wake I look back to yesterday
And I'm OK

And things like The Himalayan timesThe Himalayan times,I
agree that I may have missed the point,but in my lifetime I have very
seen very low level of journalism
.Fox news once claimed that France was bad coz muslims prefer to go
there,but nothing tops the charade thrown out by Kantipur.Maybe the
paper is great,but I simply don't buy it.
When you are trying to kill somebody or destroy somebody you are no
longer worth consideration.
As for my other views,I said I am obdurate,which has been my
downfall.Well so said.If I was successful (which I am not,maybe it
does not matter at all,that much, not to anybody not to me) then my
views carried weigtage ,as for now ,I don't think it does.
There is an advantage of being stubborn, you don't talk with those who
have a complete different viewpoint from you most of the times.An
american philoshophy and a good one.
And about the letter,I MUST SAY I was not supporting the King.I just
said that things got better than before.Another old principle,when you
have to choose,choose the lesser evil.The King's time is up,and I
don't like him.I am just saying that he is better than the crappot
politicians.
But I agree that there is no answer to democracy.
I quote
"Undoubtedly democracy has fallacies but
still is the best system. But till we can have elections(75% of Nepal
is in hands of Maoists), maybe we can do with the present system."

Need for pro-democracy and pro-immigration stance

Many countries in the world hates the word immigration.The only
superpower in the world USA has become superpowers because of their
liberal immigration policies.The land of the aliens is superior to
other countries because it is a land of the melting point.I was
remined of a letter in the guardian by someone ,who after the
Hurricane Katrina, said that if the USA fails the world fails.They
often solve their own problems by their own ways.We saw the
mismanagement and chaos of the the earlier efforts but the later
coverage by BBC ended with the comment "finally the superpower is
acting like one".
Meanwhile the nazi countries like Denmark,Norway and Germany who
inhibits immigrations.Treat them like dogs,and affectively employ nazi
tactics on foreign people(except those from america of course,coz they
americans have money) are living happily.For example even if you marry
somebody from Denmark,you can't get a Danish passport provided you are
not an american.Nazism at its best.When I was in Europe last year, I
saw the fear of the people towards people from Asia.They think that
somehow Asians could get their jobs.They hate Asians,blacks and
attacks on Turkisk people in Germany is almost upto the full Nazi
level.
My 2 cents

Guardian and the Nepalese Royalty

I send this letter to the guardian.
They did not deem it good enough to be published so it comes here.
       I would like to point out my differences to your analysis (The
heavy price of feudal nostalgia, The Guardian, May 26, 2005). Being a
Nepali citizen, I am amazed to find a rather narrow point of view
taken by most liberal democracies and critics in the west towards the
present scenario of Nepal. They, unlike the King's ambivalent words
about democracy, are curtly demanding "a restoration of democracy"
which is entirely out of the realm of the current scenario.
       I would like to put a more pragmatic perspective, but also 
taking the recent background into account ,of the present imbroglio
 in Nepal.
Ever since the inception of democracy brought about by a popular
revolution in 1990, the country has witnessed one after another
corrupt, ineffective and effete governments whose problems were
compounded by frequent bandhs(strikes) called by whosoever is in the
opposition. These strikes occurring as frequently as twice a week ,not
only severely restricted the economic outlook of the country ,but also
coupled with mismanagement and plutocratic rule and widespread
corruption, led to the strengthening of the underground Maoist
movement. They (Maoist) came into existence promising a stoppage of
the rampant corruption , mismanagement and an end to the plutocratic
elite's rule. It is not that unknown that most part of Nepal is still
without the most tenuous necessities like electricity and safe water.
So, a large proportion of the rural population with their rustic mind
felt embolden by the Maoist and supported them wholeheartedly. Mass
torture and corruption were prevalent before the Maoist, so it is of
no surprise that the Maoist were able to stand on these issues and
increase their strength day by day. Meanwhile the political parties
were (probably like elsewhere in the world) widely loathed and
detested. Their constant in-fighting and frequent bandhs ,which led
the nation to a standstill too many times, simply led to further
despair among the people. Some ,like in the communist states ,started
to say openly that they wish that they were still in the pre-democracy
days of 1990 when there was less corruption , less mismanagement, and
less strikes.
       It is thus no surprise that most Nepalese including the few educated
cautiously supported the King's move, as he said that he had to take
this step to preserve democracy and he "promised" not only to restore
democracy but strengthen it. I was not surprised that many Nepalese
people who were effected by the Maoist extortion racket totally
accepted and welcomed the move. One such example would be my
friend(who would remain anonymous) ,whose family were routinely
extorted by the Maoists. Up to Rs 50,000 were extorted from his family
in the cause for supporting the "Maoist People's revolution". Any
attempt to ask help from the security forces was futile because in the
remote location of Tanahu,  almost 100 Km east of Pokhara, where they
live,  the Maoist hold the supremacy of both numbers and tactics. If
the security forces had found out their contribution ,the whole family
would had been put into jail and tortured. In such a milieu of
violence ,extortion and strikes ,it is no surprised that his educated
family whole heartedly welcomed the royal move.
       Since the royal move, the mismanagement has lessened (yes) , the
corruption level has gone down ,and the street lights are working
again. Most importantly the bandhs are gone. It is no wonder that most
people stayed away from the protests of the political parties ,which
ordinary people think is another ruse to put themselves into power.
       It is ironical that on February 1, using a abstruse clause of the
same constitution that bars him from capturing power , the King took
control of the country. Since then , the Maoist Party (yes, it is
still called a party) have been considerably weakened (not by the
army) ,but by the same in-fighting that weakened  its democratic
counterparts. Apparently, two most prominent figures of the Maoist
movement Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and the enigmatic head of the Maoists,
Prachanda , have taken different routes. It has also come to be known
that there is a strong possibility of a war between the two factions.
This fact has been glossed over by the western media totally.
       The total lack of participation of the so called "mass movement" by
the democratic parties against the tyranny of the king has been
omitted from the viewpoint of the western perspective. In 1990 ,
hundreds of thousands of people filled up the streets and the king was
forced to give up his powers. Today ,the protests encompasses a few
hundred party cadres and the leaders themselves.
       It is clear that hundreds of political detainees had been arrested
,some of them subsequently released, some not. Freedom of expression
(guaranteed by the constitution) is under danger ,and the freedom
enjoyed by journalists has been curtailed. Dozens of FM stations
(including news stations) had mushroomed during the democratic days
,unrivalled in most parts of Asia , but they have since been muzzled.
Even the 24 hour BBC FM station is allowed to broadcast only 45
minutes out of every hour. But , high standard of journalism
,particularly from newspapers like The Himalayan Times, has insured
that constructive criticism is not dead yet.
       In light of the situation , I think a more pragmatic approach should
be undertaken.
Feudal fiefdoms and Monarchy needs to be dissolved everywhere. But
since the King has the power, and it is extremely unlikely that he
will give his power voluntarily, a system inclusive of the king has to
be sought. Tripartite  talks between the king ,the parties and Maoists
is one possible scenario. I believe that if the parties give up their
belligerence , there is a strong probability of a return of democratic
frameworks. But ,surprise surprise !
The parties are not interested in talking! After all they see that the
king is likely to loot the country's treasure which they themselves
were doing with impunity. It is clear that the international pressure
should be put on the parties ,not only on the kings.
       Even in the present situation the level of freedom is unprecedented,
civilians are not being murdered for expressing their views. Those who
are being tortured are tortured not for their political beliefs but
the "suspicion" of being a Maoist. Newspapers like The Himalayan Times
still carry articles with strong criticisms against the king. And the
level of corruption has gone down. Strikes have vanished. Maybe things
have gotten better. I am not supporting this regime, but they say when
choosing always choose the lesser evil.
       I say that like everybody else( the Maoists ,the parties etc) give
the King a chance . He says that he will return democracy . If he does
not he forecast his own doom. Undoubtedly democracy has fallacies but
still is the best system. But till we can have elections(75% of Nepal
is in hands of Maoists), maybe we can do with the present system. So
until talks( the only way to resolve the Maoist problem) and return to
democracy or ultimate demise of Monarchy, elections seems impossible.
       If democracy returns now, people will belch knowing where the power
will go under that democracy: those corrupt politicians who give a
damn about their constituents. Maybe it is a time to update the
constitution so that instead of a prime minister we have a president
who could be elected from the people itself.
       As for me ,being a computer engineering graduate , from Kathmandu
University ,and still searching for the ever elusive job(no doubt the
economic stagnation brought about by the frequent bandhs and the
insurgency being a contributing factor) or a scholarship somewhere
else , I give a damn to the politicians and hope that they never come
to power.

Good movie
I enjoyed the movie Sideways very much.Maybe it reflected my mood,the mood of desperation or the mood of being associated with the protagonists,I enjoyed the movie to the hilt.I could be deemed a loser ,couldn't I.No job, no occupations, no future.Life sucks,is it?But does life sucks for everybody or life has singled me out.