Honest comment on terrorism:

“While I may somewhat sympathize with sniping Jihadist terrorists for killing your own nationals on a tit-for-tat level, I may be taken the wrong way here, but, besides killing people in mercilessly-bloody ways (9/11, 7/7, etc.), I’ve always wondered exactly what type of threat that terrorists pose to Western civilization or to the nations in which they carry out their operations.

I mean, unless they can carry out organized guerilla warfare against an established government or rule (like Maoists in Nepal or the Soviet-era Taliban in Afghanistan), I fail to see the threat against said government from train-bombing, plane-downing terrorists. All they can do is piss off the government or shell-shock the living daylights out of the population, but never actually bring down the government or kill off the population; they don’t have the material, manpower, or morale to do either. All that they can do is blow themselves up in coffee shops and other similar things; despite what Hamas (a terrorist group, not a guerilla resistance group) has sworn to do, Israel hasn’t disappeared or fallen, but is sending tanks into West Bank suburbs, like it always does and for the same reasons as 20 or 30 years ago.

That’s why I think that we’re taking 9/11 and every other publicity stunt pulled by a terrorist organization *way* too seriously; these were quite expensive stunts (bodily, financially, and psychologically), but still stunts. The same with troll organizations such as GNAA or Bantown who carry out DDoS attacks against servers or bait unsuspecting users into eye-shock by a Goatse.cx pic or Last Measure.

They don’t pose a threat against Western civilization, only our sanity. They don’t pose a threat to Western liberties, only our scruples. They just need to be reined in like criminals, not like combatants; they *want* to be treated like combatants.

Why do you think Moussaoui will live the rest of his life in a supermax rather than face the chair? Because he was a criminal (like the jury saw him as), not a combatant (as he portrayed and saw himself). The same with all other terrorists, including Hamas.”

From “Russia’s Upper House Gives Putin Wider Powers to Hunt Down Terror Suspects”

technorati tags:terrorism, digg, russia

Blogged with Flock

As of July 2006:

Sweden

United States

Belgium

Italy

France

United Kingdom

Hmm, so I guess that Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain/Portugal, the rest of Scandinavia, Australia, and maybe Russia are missing their own at the moment. Then you’d pretty much have the whole of the Western world (at least the parts which matter) covered in pirates.

And in case you haven’t heard, the Pirate Party was started in Sweden to defend privacy and file-sharing against the ravages of the MPAA, RIAA, and other creative industry representatives on the electoral level. They are closely affiliated with The Pirate Bay torrent tracker, which is also based in Sweden; the Pirate Bay’s servers (which also hosted the Pirate Party’s website) were raided by Swedish police some months ago (at the behest of the MPAA), but were returned back to their owners sometime later, and the issue is now in the courts. The Pirate Party is also planning to campaign for the general elections in September.

A US Pirate Party was founded in May by two students at the University of Georgia, and now other national Pirate Parties have been founded within the last two months in other First-World countries which also have active file-sharing communities (and troubles with copyright law enforcement).

I’ll keep this page updated with the newest Pirate Parties. Arrr!

technorati tags:pirate, party, sweden, international, file-sharing, copyright

Blogged with Flock

Its much better than the “proof of concept”, even if its still in alpha stage.

Songbird is a media player that is based on Firefox, looks like iTunes, and feels quite heavy. Played just music on 0.1, but now also plays video (just like iTunes does with Quicktime), and (yes) recognizes iPods (for those who may want to know).

I like it (although it won’t play m4a files, and probably for good reason). Try it out (for Windows, Mac, or Linux).

I’m currently reading the lively commentary that ensued from Father Jake’s March 10 blogpiece, “Censure Peter Akinola”, which was written in reaction to the controversial statements made by the ever-controversial Peter Akinola, Archbishop of the Anglican church in Nigeria (“they do not have the monopoly of violence in this nation. . . . CAN may no longer be able to contain our restive youths should this ugly trend continue.”) during the infamous Danish Muhammad cartoon crisis. A day after Akinola made that statement, Christians in Onitsha (former capitol of Biafra) and other parts of southeastern Nigeria reacted in equally violent kind to the cartoon-related Muslim violence against Christians in northern Nigeria (where Christians are in the minority), hacking Muslims in the street with machetes and burning/defacing mosques.

Akinola is also known for having objected towards moves to ordain gay clergy in the Anglican/Episcopalian Communion (such as Gary Robinson), and has hinted to the secession of the Nigerian church from under Canterbury’s jurisdiction. He has been decried in the Northern church (Europe, U.S., Australia), but has become quite popular with Nigerians and other Anglican constituencies and denominations based in Africa (save for the South African church and Desmond Tutu) with a conservative bent (even Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, a noted homophobe).

In the following discussion, Chiake from Nigeria debated with Goran from Sweden and other Angliscopalians (who seem to live in the U.S.) on Akinola and the rise of conservative Christianity (Pentecostalism, Prosperity Gospel, Evangelicalism) in the Global South vs. Robinson and the deprecation of conservative Christianity in the Global North. To generalize the discussion, the main point was how the two regions (one which, some 500 years back, imposed the worldview, and the other which took the cock) are diverging into two different directions, one which sees Christianity as a tool for upward elevation (hence Prosperity Gospel) and the other which sees Christianity as an institution for social justice and humanity. The former is becoming much more popular in areas which have experienced enduring economic depression and poverty, while the latter (already popular) is becoming much more nominal in its human relations.

Does this mean that a great schism is in the crosshairs of Christianity, similar to the Great Schism of 1054?

Or, as with the rise of Akinola and the Nigerian church, could this be a shifting of Christianity’s power from North to South?

OK, I’m asking this because of how Buddhism (which was started in India, just like Hinduism and Sikhism, all three of which are, like Judaism and Islam, religions based upon and transmitted through the written word) had once been prominent in South Asia (its place of origin), but once it had been sent over the Himalayas to China and East Asia, Buddhism dwindled down to a tiny minority religion in most parts of India save for modern-day Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Now its seeming that the same is bound to happen with Protestant Christianity, as its numbers and clout gradually dwindles in North America and Europe, while its numbers and clout gradually increases in Africa (particularly in Nigeria). That the Angliscopalian church is readily listening to Akinola is proof enough of this power shift.

So, what if this shift happens, and will it resemble the influence of historic influence and spread of Buddhism in East Asia? Will sub-Saharan, Niger-Congo-speaking Africa, which has been familiar with Christianity for only a few centuries (compared with the much-longer history of Buddhism in East Asia), be able to integrate Evangelical Christianity (which is also heavily influential in the Nigerian church) within its own culture and dialogue? Will, just as in Japan, people in Africa still be able to honor their ancestral spirits alongside Jesus?

I would like to see what will become of this within a few centuries.

So the womb environment makes you gay? LOL, I thought that a certain dancing webslinger would do that to you.

Also, the new Digg.com that was launched some two nights ago seems to be catching well with the natives. Plus, as expected, the new politics and World News sections are filled with “Bush/Muslims/MPAA/Microsoft eat babies” posts. Vigilantes are made for this site.

Also, I’ve come across this God-awfully amazing movie: London Voodoo. This is an amazing film that, for once, doesn’t give Vodun the “Scooby-Doo and Shaggy” treatment. It’s about an American woman (just moved to London) who is mounted by some Dahomean Amazon warrior with a libido to satisfy and a bone to pick with the local Vodouisants, and how her working husband (who moved her and their child to London for his new job) has to win her back from a threat that is beyond any physical control. Here’s the torrent if you want to watch it: http://isohunt.com/dl.php?id=6926170

Also, via the rubbertransformations group, I came across this rather interesting disturbing FREAKY-DEEKY vid on Youtube. Reading the commentary, its evident that even hardened GayNiggers are disturbed by this sort of thing. Wowwee!

Finally, I’m still divided between Islam and the Orishas. However, I do know that standard Islam (Sunni, Shi’ite) is now out of the question.

Why?

Because I’ve figured out that the typical Muslim mentality, as exhibited in every case of some non-Muslim making a critique of Islam or Muslims, is the same as the Jewish reaction to anti-Semitism (or anything that is remotely close to it). Therefore, diversity within standard Islam and the realm within which it predominates is stifled as much as possible (the Kurds are a famous example of this); all that you see is Arabic, Mecca, Muhammad, Qu’ran, Sharia, and Jihad for miles on end.

About as bland as rural Illinois, IMO.

Therefore, apart from the whole “rebellion against the Western way” schtick, there’s really not that much incentive to convert to Islam (and the accompanying Arab cultural enforements). One will be dealing with a single, monolithic ethno-religious culture that works actively against difference and diversity (or uses it for its own advancement).

That is one thing which I’ve dealt with before, and refuse to deal with again.

So, more than likely, it’ll be the Orishas for me.

Yes, its 9 EST and I said 11, but I was bored, so….

___________________

http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-15457.0.html

Oh, and in case you didn’t know (and you don’t), I’m currently active on http://digg.com

And finally, I’m in a soul searching mood ATM.

I’m thinking about converting to Islam.

More at 11.

I’m trying as hard as I can not to say that “Macs suck” or “Macs are garbage” at the moment, but I have found out that, as good as OS X might look on the exterior, it has some, I guess, irreconcilable kinks that are probably going to prevent me from looking at it the same way as I did prior to today.

How so? Well, let’s start from the beginning.

I was in Operating Systems class, and everyone had already left because they (and I) had gotten through with our weekly chapter tests. I stayed behind, and asked Mr. Carlisle if I could work with the Mac Minis which the school had bought for educational purposes; he said yes, and I switched one of them on.

Needless to say, I immediately started downloading .dmg files for a test drive. I had already known about and tried out the RSS Visualizer screensaver (which displays RSS feeds from Safari in a smooth, airy blue display), so I was ready to go. I tried out Safari, but again, I was reminded of exactly how much a person who “switches” will have to get used to: clicking the middle scroll button on the mouse will get you Dashboard, even if you’re trying to open a link in a new tab in whatever browser you’re using (Safari, Camino, Shiira, even Firefox). So you’ll have to open the link *manually* (left click if you’re using a non-Apple mouse, which they used for the Minis).

OK…..that’s not cool.

Then I tried opening any of those browsers – hell, even any of the applications, like Finder – in fullscreen (y’know, press on the “Expand” button on a window to, well, expand it). However, except for Camino, when I press the plus sign on the upper-left corner of Safari or Finder, the window will shift to one side of the window.

Huh?

I press the plus sign again and it shifts back to the position that it was in before.

“Oh-kay……”, I think.

Finally, feeds: I can’t find the button on Safari that allows you to add RSS feeds to the built-in reader. No Mac browser (save, probably, for Firefox, which I didn’t try out) can recognize Atom feeds (the XML syndication type that is used by Google, Blogspot, and as an option alongside RSS on Livejournal). And finally, for the first time, I felt like there was just too much clutter and disorganization on the desktop (with the Dock showing up everytime I bring the cursor anywhere within its vicinity, although I can barely get it to show up when I shift the Dock to the right or left side of the screen. Peachy.)

Overall, during my short tenure with the OS X desktop, I felt…….debilitated. Yeah, that might be the word. I felt debilitated when I was on it.

That said, I think I have a reason (or two) *not* to “get a Mac”.

OK, so most of you all, I suppose, already know about climate change, global warming, and rising water levels (New Orleans, Venice, etc.). However, I would like to wonder: are there areas of the world or its oceans in which water levels are *receding* rather than rising?

Oh, and since 2000, there’s been a fifth ocean besides your favorite four.

Yes, its here!!! Hurricane Season ’06 is here!!! In Warner Robins!!!

Ya’ll need to check this shit out, its fucking crazy out here! Thunder, lightning, weather gone berserk like Eva 01!!!

http://www.weather.com/weather/local/31093?lswe=31093&lwsa=WeatherLocalUndeclared&from=whatwhere