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Controlling the Country vs Controlling the Mind
2008-06-12 08:54:00
Late in 2007 the ruling military junta in Myanmar (Burma) put huge price increases on petrol and other commodities. This lead to widespread protests by the public and monks joined in that protest also. Now, with the devastating cyclone nature has inflicted massive damage and the government has been accused by almost everyone of not doing enough to help the people, and even of not allowing those that want to help to get into the country to help. Further protests by monks have been made. This article is not aimed at describing the present crises as the news media can do that far better than I can. Rather, it is to look at the history of confrontation between those who try to rule the country (the Junta) and those who try to rule their own minds (the Monks). The history of such conflict goes back to the very early days of Buddhism, when Emperor Ashoka's soldiers first came across Buddhist Monks in Northern India. The Monks refused to obey the soldiers orders even after some were kill...
More About: Country , Mind , The Mind

Bush Shows True Colours (Again)
2008-03-09 04:03:00
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/3438 9prs20080308.html President George W Bush is vetoing a bill aimed to stop all torture by US agencies including the CIA, including specifically waterboarding, or near drowning of people. Just last year he claimed that he was against torture when similarly trying to prevent a bill against torture. Liar, liar. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) state on their web site: ACLU Condemns Bush Veto Of Intelligence Bill Preventing Torture (3/8/2008) Army Field Manual would have been extended to all of federal government, including the CIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: (202) 675-2312, media@dcaclu.org WASHINGTON - In a brazen move signaling a callous disregard for human rights, President Bush today vetoed the 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act largely due to a provision that would have applied the Army Field Manual (AFM) on Interrogations to all government agencies, including the CIA. The AFM, which currently applies only to the Department...
More About: Colours , True

May the Best Team Win?
2007-10-08 10:01:00
It is the 2007 World Rugby Cup. The team play has occurred and then the quarterfinals. The semifinals are about to take place. My home country of New Zealand is in deep shock and mourning as a result of the All Blacks being beaten by France in the quarterfinals by 20-18. The NZ coach Graham Henry resigned the next day. The inquiry (or is it inquisition) is about to start. But before that I want to look at the record of the All Blacks over the last few years and look at the issue of whether the best team is really expected to win. I am sure that people think that the best team is the one that won, but that isn't really true. Not winning does not mean that you have failed. In a game of rugby, one funny bounce of the ball can mean 7 points difference on the score board. There are usually a number of such events in a game. Anyway, first the facts: 1. Over the last 3 years New Zealand has indisputably been the best team and the IRB ranked them as number one team. They have a better th...
More About: Team

Do we have too many laws?
2007-08-18 09:20:00
I live in New Zealand, so these comments are related to our conditions, but much of the western world is similar I think. Government is always making new laws. The very seldom scrap old ones. So we have more and more laws all the time. And yet we find that when it comes to the police enforcing them, there are many that they now just do not bother about. This is not about bashing the police, as they have limited funds and have to set the priorities. Unfortunately that same lack of funds, pressure to balance the books along with the combination of police and traffic departments some years ago has all come together to make one of the top priorities handing out speeding tickets. I suspect that it is also a little more attractive to catch people doing no harm to anyone and get some quick income because most of these people do not carry guns or attack the police. It must be less attractive to chase after armed gangs who produce drugs and ruin many people's lives. It occurs to me that...
More About: Laws

Being Brighter
2007-08-17 02:31:00
http://www.the-brights.net/ Until the last couple of generations it has not always been possible for those that are not religious to speak openly and honestly about their beliefs if they valued their wellbeing, health and even life. Even in much of the world today that situation remains, especially in some Moslem countries and some Christian dominated regions in the USA. Being an Atheist is often considered lower than a thief or even sex offender. So the idea that Atheists should come "out" and declare themselves has recently been promoted, and an organization has been started for people who do not have belief in anything supernatural, although they do not have to be Atheists. The difference between being an Atheist and not believing in the supernatural may not be obvious to some. The new organization is called the Brights and they exist to try and counterbalance the pressures of religion in society so that people without religious beliefs are not disadvantaged. Religious groups, l...

My, what a big PI
2007-07-23 03:41:00
This is not the sort of pie you can eat, but rather the ratio of the distance around the sort of pie that you can eat compared to the distance across it. The history of the accuracy to which the value of pi has been determined is quite interesting and that is what this article is about. When I was at school we were often told to use the approximation for pi of 22/7 which is 3.142857 ... although this is a bit of a rough value being wrong in the 3rd decimal place, a better fraction being 355/113 = 3.14159 292... but the nice thing about this very accurate fraction is when it is expressed as a division of 113)355 because it can easily be remembered from the 113355. I have always liked that fraction of 355/113 ever since I came across it as a young man. I have even seen an explanation for this one in the bible, which is much better than the pi equals three that is also claimed to be there. These can be compared to the true value being something like this: pi=3.14159 26535 89793 238...

Ahimsa - to do no harm
2007-07-18 09:42:00
"Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good." - Mohandas Gandhi In todays world it is easy to say that the problems are so great that as individuals we cannot affect them. That is exactly the cause of problems - that no-one stands against seemingly overwhelming forces. Just which snowflake in an avalanche can be held responsible? Another view ... ?We don?t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. Even when we don?t ?win? there is fun and fulfillment in the fact that we have been involved, with other good people, in something worthwhile. We need hope. An optimist isn?t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose ...
More About: Harm , To Do , Himsa

Just One Typical Hour
2007-07-09 06:47:00
In this article the question is asked Is the United States Killing 10,000 Iraqis Every Month? Or Is It More? A state-of-the-art research study published in October 12, 2006 issue of The Lancet (the most prestigious British medical journal) concluded that -- as of a year ago -- 600,000 Iraqis had died violently due to the war in Iraq. That is, the Iraqi death rate for the first 39 months of the war was just about 15,000 per month. That wasn't the worst of it, because the death rate was increasing precipitously, and during the first half of 2006 the monthly rate was approximately 30,000 per month, a rate that no doubt has increased further during the ferocious fighting associated with the current American surge. Remember that is up to October 2005 and almost two more years of increased violence has passed since then. It is difficult to imagine this amount of bloodshed. If you take all your family, all your friends and work mates, you might come to several hundred people. That wou...
More About: Hour , Pica

Ten Reasons to Impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney
2007-07-05 10:26:00
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetw ork/88?ad=d0 Go to the title link to see the original page. It is stated that already 100,000 people have signed this petition. Ten Reasons to Impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney I ask Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney for the following reasons: 1. Violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal "War of Aggression" against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, misusing government funds to begin bombing without Congressional authorization, and subjecting our military personnel to unnecessary harm, debilitating injuries, and deaths. 2. Violating U.S. and international law by authorizing the torture of thousands of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths, and keeping prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross. 3. Violating the Constitution by arbitrarily detaining Americans, legal residents, and non-Americans, without due process, without c...
More About: George Bush

Customer Loyalty and Complete Madness
2007-07-02 09:36:00
In recent years customer loyalty schemes have been all the rage. They range from having a stamp put on a card when you buy another book or greeting card at the stationers to a pre-paid card that give special prices when you buy pizza or movie tickets, from special petrol price vouchers when you buy groceries to fly buys on everything that you purchase. They are retailers attempts to get you to keep using their stores. This article examines whether these schemes can possibly benefit anyone. One way that I like to look at things is to see what would happen if everyone did the same thing. After all, if the scheme is a good one, everyone will copy it. So the end result of these customer loyalty schemes is now clearly visible. You now have to keep loads of bits of paper and cards with you all the time, waste time at shops and checkouts getting stuff filled in and stamped, get really annoyed when you finally get enough stamps on your book club card only to find that the original purchas...
More About: Customer , Loyalty , Complete , Custom , Madness

Religious Belief and Social Problems
2007-06-19 07:46:00
http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005- 11.html Many non-religious people have experienced religious people claiming that they are therefore less moral and related arguments. Of course this is not true, but this belief is common amoung the religious, that morality comes from religion. Now some actual research has been done, looking at how prevalent various religious behaviours are in different countries and comparing this to various moral behaviours and healthiness of living. The results are bound to be a big shock to those that think that healthy and moral behaviour come from religion - quite the opposite is true. Consider these two lists - the first concerns itself with being religious and the commonly associated disbelief in evolution. The second is concerned with behaviours which most would agree are immoral and / or unhealthy. Absolute belief in God Attend religious services at least several times per month Take the bible literally Pray at least several times per week Not be...
More About: Social , Problems , Religious , Belief , Social problem

Genetic Engineering of crops is insanity
2007-06-06 12:07:00
http://www.safe-food.org/ I cannot see any other way of putting this, and I am not one to mince my words. Anyone that thinks genetic engineering is in any way good for people is very ill-informed, insane or evil. There are no other possibilities. In many tests of genetically modified food sources it has been found that animals eating them get damage to their immune systems. This is not at all surprising to anyone who even slightly understands how life works, because immunity can only be expected to exist for things that exist naturally in the environment. This problem alone is sufficient reason to abandon all GE food sources. There is no point in having food 10% cheaper if it seriously damages your health. Of course there is the issue of whether genetically engineered food is actually more productive as is often claimed by people producing it. It is common practice for those doing scientific research for businesses to selectively report the facts to make the case for the business ...
More About: Engineering , Insanity , Gene , Engineer , Crop

Why I am a Vegetarian
2007-05-23 08:00:00
Before I can adequately deal with the question of why I am a vegetarian, I first need to express my views about how people generally have such practices and where they come from. For the majority of people, their religion, eating habits, belief systems and many habits are developed while very young. They are not based on thinking about things but on what your parents did and perhaps other important people in your life such as teachers and friends. Of course we all like to think that our views are rational, sensible and ... well just plain right! But the truth is that they were installed in our little developing minds before we had (if we ever have) learned to think at all. Funnily enough, it is these views and habits which have never been subject to any questioning or thinking that are defended with the utmost force if they are attacked. That is because they cannot be rationally defended as they were never rationally conceived. They are simply habits born of doing the same thing e...
More About: Vegetarian

Top 10 Blog Directories
2007-05-20 08:18:00
Here is a list of the top 10 blog directories that I have listed my blogs in. You may find them useful for doing searches in, or for adding your own blog(s). Blog Dire ctor y BlogRankings.com
More About: Directories , Tori