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Pursuit of Happy Hours
Hmmm. Now I'm wondering. I think I know our mutual friend with a problem. He's been in the news a bit lately, heh? But I'm still trying to figure out who you are...adding a face to your moniker. I'm in Prague at the moment, drinking moderate amounts of the best beer in the world. Soon as I'm back in S.D., I'm looking forward to seeing you in person again. Fred— May 15, 2009 7:28 a.m.
Pursuit of Happy Hours
Naomi, what's the difference between playing with silly cocktails and getting serious with wine? Either way, I usually end up a bit tipsy... :-) As to narcissistic writers...well, kinda by definition...if you write, you've got to be either a fool or extremely confident in the worth of your words. Otherwise, what's the point?— May 13, 2009 8:15 a.m.
San Diego's Antiochian Orthodox church surprises.
Spliff, you might want to re-read your bible. Jonathan and King David sure were...ahem...pretty "close" to each other. Right after the homos are called an "abomination" in Leviticus, the Bible clearly says that eating shrimp is an "abomination" too...so obviously gay sex is just as offensive to God as eating shellfish. Look it up, my friend. If you've ever eaten lobster, you're going to hell. (Or, just maybe, you kinda believe what Jesus and especially Paul said about the old testament being out of date, huh?) Remember when Lot was visited by the angels? Rather than let the crowd bother these divine beings (you'd think they could protect themselves) our hero sent out his pubescent daughters in their place to be raped silly...oh, what a great source of morality! Spliff, you must agree that mental illness is caused by evil spirits. After all, Jesus was able to transfer evil spirits from a schizophrenic over to a pig herd, which then ran off the cliffs. No more reason to fund those mental health clinics...take it to the lord in prayer, he'll heal you! Oh yeah, Spliff. If we just used the bible as our source of morality, we'd still have slavery. Didn't you know that Jesus even gives instructions on how to treat your slaves properly? Religion is a THEORY. Problem is, it's not backed up by any facts. Evolution is a THEORY. Great thing is, it's backed up, again and again, by irrefutable facts and evidence. Which THEORY do you believe? Best, Fred— May 13, 2009 8:13 a.m.
Listening in
If you're being monitored, you wouldn't know it from a van parked in front. The monitoring software is built into the telco system and is accessed remotely by law enforcement. It's called a "Lawful Intercept Module". What it does is allow police to identify a call/caller/device by the Call Data Record (CDR) which is where all the signaling information is stored. The telco doesn't even have to know that the cops are making a recording request. They have "plausible deniability" by design. Once you know a CDR, it can be used to identify specific call "streams" which can then be turned into an mp3 and delivered to the cop's email for their listening pleasure. So long as it's set up properly, you would never, ever know. The same system allows them to monitor your land line, mobile phone, text messages, and even your VOIP conversations. If you think you have any privacy, forget it. Your best hope is that due to incompetence and over work, they just aren't interested in you in the first place. After all, it's just not possible to listen in to every conversation. There's not enough time. But technically speaking, it's child's play to monitor you 24/7. I recently did some work for a Russian telco that has delivered just such a telco system to Pakistan...so Putin and his friends can now listen in to all the conversations there -- and we cannot unless Russia agrees. Yeah. Nice world, huh? Stupid American cops are more interested in listening to my man Spliff calling around trying to locate a quarter, when we ought to be interested in listening to Al Queda... ...that's our government at work. Feeling safer?— May 13, 2009 7:55 a.m.
San Diego's Antiochian Orthodox church surprises.
Spliff, maybe YOU aren't evolving, but the rest of the world is. I feel deeply sorry for you that there is such a hole in your life that you'll delude yourself with an angry sky daddy rather than face up to reality. Evolution isn't just a theory. It's a fact repeatedly borne out by every serious researcher who has ever investigated it. The overwhelming proof has convinced intelligent people that it's the best explanation we have about how we came into being. Religion IS a theory...and not a very good one. Every serious researcher who has ever tried to verify it has concluded that while there are bits of factual information here and there, for the most part it's just a collection of myths. Spliff...I don't think you're a Christian at all. Quite the opposite. You're just using the label "Christian" to disguise your bigotry. If you were a "Christian" you'd be turning the other cheek, looking for peace, seeking after truth, lifting up the downtrodden... Instead you attack gays, claim that those who disagree with you are possessed by the "devil", and seem to think that mankind is like a naughty child in need of punishment. Grow up. Go take a science class...I recommend biology. It would open your eyes (and maybe improve your writing). Best, fred— May 8, 2009 3:33 a.m.
San Diego's Antiochian Orthodox church surprises.
Refried, you are correct...but there is one major difference between those of us who accept science, facts, and reason as opposed to those who choose to put their faith in wish fulfillment fantasies. The religious people KILL us. Non-believers are easy going, live-and-let-live folk. Religious jerks want to impose their twisted view of the world on everyone else. At the point of the sword. In America, they've gone so far that they practically took over our government, including the justice department itself. Religious bigots band together to deny equal rights to those who disagree with their narrow-minded and factually incorrect view of life. We don't do that. We non-believers could care less if two men want to marry, or if someone prefers smoking grass to drinking wine. The religious idiots, however, insist that because their invisible friend commands them, they must impose their rules on all of us. There's no equivocation, Refried. The religious are dangerous as well as by definition rather dim. And, by the way, Einstein was absolutely NOT religious. His "God doesn't play dice" comments did NOT refer to a deity, but spoke rather of a vague sort of "Universe is God" notion popular with European scientists of his day. As to my having a "spiritual hole"...no, the religious have a "logic hole". Please don't equate me with the religious at all. There's no comparison. Religion, by definition, requires a person to give up on reason and rely on mythology instead. Reliance on reason, in spite of strong social pressure to be irrational, is NOT the same as giving in to fear and ignorance, and turning over your life to a nonexistent mythical sky daddy. Best, Fred— May 7, 2009 2:05 a.m.
San Diego's Antiochian Orthodox church surprises.
You all would do better to try learning a bit about the history of the bible, and how it was cobbled together, argued over, and became a primarily POLITICAL document suited to the circumstances of those in power. Not one word of it is based on "divine revelation". The bible itself is no more important, illuminating, or "true" than the ancient myths of the Greeks or Scandinavians. The fastest growing "religion" in America today is "none at all". This is because more and more people are receiving basic educations in science. Anyone who learns the marvelously simple, and absolutely beautiful principles of evolution never again has to rely on the ugly collection of atrocities found in the bible to explain the origin of life. (Do you SERIOUSLY believe in talking snakes, rib women, and magical trees? Grow up!) Frankly, I feel pity for religious folks. It's as if some part of their brain is turned off. Fortunately, more and more of us have decided to stop paying lip service to those who demand "respect" for their superstitious nonsense. By confronting you directly, instead of giving you completely unearned "respect", we're treating you like adults instead of stupid children who have to be coddled. I don't respect your religion. In adults, it deserves no more respect than sincere belief in the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. Morality and religion have NOTHING in common. It's only when people grow up, give up that religious crutch, and face reality like an adult that truly moral decisions can be made. Until then, every time I see some superstitious faith-heads extolling the virtue of their delusions, no matter how sincerely held, I'll take the time to point out that most intelligent people find these childish beliefs truly nauseating. Best, Fred Williams— May 6, 2009 7:38 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
JustWondering, thanks for the report. Keep 'em coming, people are reading what you write.— May 1, 2009 1:25 a.m.
Water Survey Says...
Uh, Spliff...that was bong water you drank, dude. Nasty.— May 1, 2009 1:23 a.m.
Teamsters union tries to recruit San Diego Lifeguards
San Diego taxpayers fork our over $11 million a year for the Padres' bleachers downtown... ...and our life guard towers are falling down? Priorities, anyone? Baseball and football's economic impact on San Diego is minuscule compared to our beaches. Why do we continue to pay off billionaire sports team owners while neglecting what is truly valuable and unique about San Diego? I can't see how MEA has any right to look the public in the eye and say they've done much to help our city or its employees. They were vocal advocates for the stadium giveaways AND the pension underfunding that was required to give away so much to the rich. Time to Change San Diego.— May 1, 2009 1:15 a.m.