On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 13:27:32 GMT, David wrote:
The idea that a right to freedom needs to be granted by a ''supreme
being'' is oxymoronic.

Going waaaay off topic, being a humanist (sort of like an atheist, but
with morals) I have a problem with the whole "supreme being" thing.

I got stopped by a Christian preacher in the street earlier this year,
in Glastonbury [1] of all places, asking me whether I believed in God.

I said "You define God, and I'll tell you whether I believe in it or
not."

The stupid thing was - he couldn't define God. This guy had devoted
his entire life to something he couldn't even define. If he'd had said
"Well, God is a metaphor that I use to describe the emergent patterns
[2] of human behaviour that assist with our species' survival, such as
philanthropy [3]" then I'd have bought in to it. But the chap
obviously hadn't actually considered what a god was.

[1] A town closely associated with pre-Christian native North European
religions and their "new age" revivals. Hippy central. Makes San
Francisco look very conservative.

[2] Emergent patterns are part of Chaos theory, they are larger
effects caused by a combination of huge numbers of very small effects.
For instance, there are more people who like babies than there are who
dislike babies, and this small effect produces a larger effect of most
babies being protected from harm.

[3] The act of being nice to people without expecting a reward.

--
Andrew Oakley

On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 15:44:31 +0100, Andrew Oakley
wrote:

On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 13:27:32 GMT, David wrote:
The idea that a right to freedom needs to be granted by a ''supreme
being'' is oxymoronic.

Going waaaay off topic, being a humanist (sort of like an atheist, but
with morals) I have a problem with the whole "supreme being" thing.

I got stopped by a Christian preacher in the street earlier this year,
in Glastonbury [1] of all places, asking me whether I believed in God.

I said "You define God, and I'll tell you whether I believe in it or
not."

The stupid thing was - he couldn't define God. This guy had devoted
his entire life to something he couldn't even define. If he'd had said
"Well, God is a metaphor that I use to describe the emergent patterns
[2] of human behaviour that assist with our species' survival, such as
philanthropy [3]" then I'd have bought in to it. But the chap
obviously hadn't actually considered what a god was.

[1] A town closely associated with pre-Christian native North European
religions and their "new age" revivals. Hippy central. Makes San
Francisco look very conservative.

[2] Emergent patterns are part of Chaos theory, they are larger
effects caused by a combination of huge numbers of very small effects.
For instance, there are more people who like babies than there are who
dislike babies, and this small effect produces a larger effect of most
babies being protected from harm.

[3] The act of being nice to people without expecting a reward.

The closest I've ever come to ''believing'' is when I'm ''heaving'',
aka praying at the porcelain altar.

http://www.wright.edu/housing/genera...Toilet_JPG.htm

In article ,
Andrew Oakley wrote:
Thank-you! That's what I was trying to determine. Looks like the US
laws are pretty much the same as the UK ones; you're only allowed to
listen to specifically designated bands.

It was more general than that. The section in the Communications Act
of 1934 set the policy for many years that you could listen to anything
(on the radio) but you were not allowed to divulge it to a third party
or otherwise act on what you heard. (Tapping wire communications was
always illegal).

It was a strange patchwork. Setting up a satellite dish back in the
60's and 70's was treated as more like wiretapping than reception, as
the receiving equipment was not commonly available and the band used
was lisenced for Point to Point use, so receivers were supposed to
be liscened. So BUD TVRO systems were sort of a civil disobedience
thing until they were legalized.

In the mid-late 1980s the cell phone industry paid Congress for the
"Electronics Communications Privacy Act" which criminalized listening
to cell phone calls and made receivers that could receive cell phone
calls contraband.


Mark Zenier
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

"Andrew Oakley" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 13:27:32 GMT, David wrote:
The idea that a right to freedom needs to be granted by a ''supreme
being'' is oxymoronic.

Going waaaay off topic, being a humanist (sort of like an atheist, but
with morals)

I'm getting really tired of hearing that. I'm an atheist, and I have morals.
I'd appreciate if you'd reconsider the phrase. ;)

On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 17:57:40 GMT, (Mark Zenier)
wrote:



In the mid-late 1980s the cell phone industry paid Congress for the
"Electronics Communications Privacy Act" which criminalized listening
to cell phone calls and made receivers that could receive cell phone
calls contraband.


Mark Zenier
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

Rather than build more secure phones, they just got a law passed.

"Beerbarrel" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 01:57:15 GMT, "Honus"
wrote:


I'm getting really tired of hearing that. I'm an atheist,



That figures!

What's really funny is that if you had a fraction of the intellect that you
think you do, you'd realize that wasn't a slam on me at all. Even your own
miserable attempts at witticisms go over your head.

On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 14:09:15 GMT, "Honus"
wrote:


"Beerbarrel" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 18:05:15 GMT, "Honus"
wrote:


"Beerbarrel" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 01:57:15 GMT, "Honus"
wrote:


I'm getting really tired of hearing that. I'm an atheist,



That figures!

What's really funny is that if you had a fraction of the intellect that
you
think you do, you'd realize that wasn't a slam on me at all. Even your
own
miserable attempts at witticisms go over your head.



Hey, I never said I was intelligent. However, I am smart enough to
know that you are the group pin head.

Which only goes to show how dumb you really are.



Like I said.....I ain't no physiscist, but I knows what matters It
ain't you.

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 03:03:14 GMT, "Honus"
wrote:


"Beerbarrel" wrote in message
.. .

Like I said.....I ain't no physiscist, but I knows what matters It
ain't you.

Oh, you can call yourself a physiscist if you want to. No one will complain,
or correct you. At least I won't.




See what I mean? I actually thought that you would have been too
stupid to catch that. Congrats on picking up that part of the joke.

What's funny is that if I'm so dumb why do you continue having a
conversation with me? As a matter of fact, all the folks you call dumb
are the only ones that you converse with except for Mike and we all
know that he is missing a few tools from the shed.

"Beerbarrel" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 03:03:14 GMT, "Honus"
wrote:


"Beerbarrel" wrote in message
.. .

Like I said.....I ain't no physiscist, but I knows what matters It
ain't you.

Oh, you can call yourself a physiscist if you want to. No one will
complain,
or correct you. At least I won't.




See what I mean? I actually thought that you would have been too
stupid to catch that. Congrats on picking up that part of the joke.

What's -really- dumb is you trying to pretend that your mistake was
intentional.

What's funny is that if I'm so dumb why do you continue having a
conversation with me?

I'm easily entertained.

As a matter of fact, all the folks you call dumb
are the only ones that you converse with except for Mike and we all
know that he is missing a few tools from the shed.

And again, we see your deficiencies in the area of reading for
comprehension. That's patently untrue, but you'll never admit it. I can live
with that.

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 03:21:11 GMT, "Honus"
wrote:


"Beerbarrel" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 03:03:14 GMT, "Honus"
wrote:


"Beerbarrel" wrote in message
.. .

Like I said.....I ain't no physiscist, but I knows what matters It
ain't you.

Oh, you can call yourself a physiscist if you want to. No one will
complain,
or correct you. At least I won't.




See what I mean? I actually thought that you would have been too
stupid to catch that. Congrats on picking up that part of the joke.

What's -really- dumb is you trying to pretend that your mistake was
intentional.

No...what's really dumb is your lack of ability to catch it.



What's funny is that if I'm so dumb why do you continue having a
conversation with me?

I'm easily entertained.


I'll say. I can't tell that by your childish responses.



As a matter of fact, all the folks you call dumb
are the only ones that you converse with except for Mike and we all
know that he is missing a few tools from the shed.

And again, we see your deficiencies in the area of reading for
comprehension. That's patently untrue, but you'll never admit it. I can live that.


Truth hurts don't it Honkus? I do believe that it is time to put
Ace's tard label on you.

I do have one simle question for you though. Do you even own a radio?