Posts by nzlemming
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
You don’t get this sort of vilification directed at Penny Bright or Grant Morgan, for instance)
Penny Bright really doesn’t have a national stage. From those that have been bothered professionally by her (e.g. me, when I worked for the gummint), you would hear plenty of vilification, not so much for what she said but how loudly [ETA and how often] she says it.
I’ve no idea who Grant Morgan is, so will not vilify him in absentia.
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless, in reply to Steve Barnes,
Thank you, Steve! I read it aloud to my wife who LOLed and pronounced it delightful.
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless, in reply to Steve Barnes,
That Knowledge Bro Link works like a dream,
For OpenOffice on whatever platform (I believe) try here
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Up Front: First, Come to Your Conclusion, in reply to Andre Alessi,
I’m constantly surprised at how inventive some of these kinks are. I mean, Aragorn/Frodo is pretty tame in the grand scheme of things.
Sam will kill him.
ETA Forgot the fricking link
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Hard News: Playing the Man, in reply to j chosun,
has anyone found any recent mention in MSM of the arrival today of the great Dr. James Hansen to 'our shores'..?
http://www.wwf.org.nz/take_action/dr_james_hansen_s_nz_tour_/
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless, in reply to Simon Grigg,
Or at least I did. This is so very sad, and a huge loss:
Oh crap! Ditto on the love to read or hear him, regardless of the message which I often disagree with. Especially when he was so gung ho about Iraq.
My favourite is the Intelligence Squared debate where he and Stephen Fry took down Ann Widdecombe and the Catholic Arch-bishop of Nigeria on “That the Catholic Church is a force for good in the world”. Pwned.
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless, in reply to Kracklite,
but that is not necessarily the same as abandoning one’s faith
Hmm, it seems to me that it depends what you are having faith in
If it's the religious teachings of a particular sect, just having the faith marks you as a member by definition, whether or not you pay the dues. I used to call myself an apostate catholic, as it was the institution I originally had a problem with, but then I read the bible again, as an adult and with a critical literary eye, and I read about the bible and how it had been "written" and hacked about, and I realised that none of it actually meant a thing, none of it could be said to be accurate history of anything that may or may not have happened in the Mediterranean and environs around 2-6000 years ago (and, I find, the more certain people sound off about the "historicity" of the bible, the more easily I can disregard what they're saying).
So, while I may or may not have a belief in something more than the physical here and now, I certainly don't have a belief in anything written as history in either the New or Old Testaments, the Book of Mormon, the ravings of L. Ron Hubbard or the Qur'an (English only, sad to say) - all of which I have read. Some of the moral teachings have resonance with me, but only because they accord with my idea of how best to treat people, not because I think they have some divine source.
at least that’s the only way I can explain the existence of Marxists who aren’t idiots as well
heh
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless, in reply to David Hood,
Correct (as with Windows 7 apparently), though I use the alternative option-a which also works.
When I remember, I do, but I usually have a document called "macrons" on the desktop of whatever system I'm on so I can cut and paste :-D
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless, in reply to Simon Grigg,
Since I really should be following Leviticus to the letter or be a hypocrite, right?
In a way, Craig, yes.
Precisely why I gave up the roman catholic church some 30 years ago. Revelation 3:16 (New International Version (©1984)
So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
If I couldn't believe all of it I wasn't having any of it.
What brought me to that point (from altar boy, lesson reader and proto-seminarian) was being advised to give up some gay friends from theatre because homosexuals were an abomination in the eyes of the lord. I said "so, I should give up my friends or the church?" They said, "yes" I said "Fuck you, then, I'm outta here."
It was after that I started reading about the structure and history of the church (particularly the Vatican Bank, Rome's role in WWII, owning contraception factories) and determined it wasn't an organisation I wanted to be part of anyway.
If you get comfort/strength/whatever from it, I'm not going to knock you. But, to me, it's like a black man trying to reform the KKK from within.
I wouldn't necessarily call myself an athiest, but I am definitely a non-religionist. Organised religion of all stripes has been a prime cause of more war, pain, hate and general shittiness than just about anything else.
I don't need religion to be spiritual.
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless, in reply to Paul Campbell,
yeah but the reason why it’s hard for you is because the americans who made your computer don’t much care about te reo
No, but they should care about Hawaiian
ETA What David Hood said.