taks

it's not really a matter of definitions, it is a matter of magnitudes. most christian religions, most religions for that matter, allow their worshippers to come and go as they please (though they clearly don't want you to leave). you are not harrassed to the point of fear for your life if you choose not to continue to follow. they are also not specifically concerned with taking money from their flock either (though clearly all religions would like something in this regard). you can worship all day, and take advantage of the services they offer, without donating a single penny. neither of these is true of scientology, not even remotely. cults operate at the detriment to their followers and to the benefit of only their leaders. this is not true of most religions. certainly all religions have some cult-like aspects (any worship fits the definition of cult), but they simply do not meet the conditions generally thought of as a true cult. it's like shades of gray. some are a bit more extreme, mormon and/or latter day saints, for example (no, they are not the same thing), and others are very extreme to the point of actually being what we would normally refer to as a cult, jehova's witnesses, for example. generally, it comes down to the level of control over followers' lives that is in place. taks

not just religion... scientology is quite a bit different than your run of the mill christian belief system (it is a cult by any definition). the ramblings of l. ron hubbard can easily be traced and proved exactly what they are - ramblings of a power hungry control freak - but the same is not true of christianity. a lot. taks

famous people are treated differently in the cult... er, religion of scientology than normal humans. l. ron hubbard made it clear that it was a benefit to have celebrity members for recruitment purposes. as for why they join... does anyone really think it takes a rational, intelligent mind to be a movie star? i'd be willing to be that many of the clauses of the contract are not enforceable in any US court of law. taks

here's to jumping the gun based on... speculation. turns out it may have been a massive DDoS attack, not a net neutrality issue. perhaps if people actually waited for an official confirmation - rather than relying solely on rumor - before forming an opinion (otherwise known as a WAG)... nah, why would i think anybody would want to think rationally. conspiracy is so much better. sigh... taks

the sherrif is just... odd, in a silly sort of way. he keeps me laughing. the first episode of the new season, with the cyborg replacement sherrif, was a riot. leverage is back on again, which is good. the interaction between the characters is what i really like, and most of the stories are cool. the one the other night was a bit too goody-goody for my taste, but there were still some moments that had me in stitches. taks

i have. several times, in fact. i have my own brewing kit sitting not more than 10 feet from me. i normally don't drink at home so there's no point in brewing my own beer just to watch it go bad. taks

beer lunch, but no steak. my buddy couldn't make it, so i had to have an extra beer for him. same as usual, trinity brewing near garden of the gods. since i was alone, i had more time to drink. here was my menu for the day: 1. farmhouse ale. batch #80 for them, and quite good i might add - a light beer, more hoppy than malty, but very flavorful and a smooth finish. the beer is actually cloudy, which reminds me of tucher though clearly it did not taste the same. it is a seasonal, so the spices/seasoning changes with every batch: apples and chickory for this batch. 2. chi. it's a belgian something or other. interestingly, though chi is a different "style" of beer than the farmhouse, it actually has a similar flavor as well as finish. 3. delerium tremens. not one of the house beers, but quite simply one of the best beers in the world. voted that 8 years in a row, apparently (not sure by whom). canadian, but a belgian ale nonetheless. 4. soul. it's a horkey ale, with a very heavy malt flavor. horkey is apparently the grandfather of all amber type ales. heavier, or maybe just a bit more bitter, than the scottish ales i typically prefer. very good, however, and i could certainly drink more than one in a sitting. 5. farmhouse. again. that good, yes. this was my buddy's beer since he couldn't make it. so, as i was leaving, i realized that i have a BBQ to attend tomorrow. i picked up a growler of the farmhouse and one of the chi. mmm... taks

not what i did, buuuuut... there is a steak in my future. noonish mountain time, i'd say. there will be a beer with that steak. later, there will be pool. billiards, of course, as i'd probably drown anymore. no, wait, too fat to sink. taks

there are cases of brain-ectomies, actually. not a whole brain-ectomy, of course, because then the patient would be no more intelligent than the average message board poster, but a right half/left half removal to cure severe seizures (and other maladies, i'm sure). taks

we get bears and mountain lions roaming around depending upon where you live. i regularly had half a dozen deer outside my office window at my last job, too. my buddy has pics of a mother black bear and her cub destroying the little lights along his driveway. they took the pics from the garage. personally, i would have been in the attic or somewhere similar the bear could not get to. we went camping a few weeks ago and the night before we got there a bear had broken into someone's car. yeah, broke the window to get in. though we don't have any around here, grizzly bears will actually tear your car door off. taks

austrian economic theory should be required learning for all you euro-weenies. quite the contrary, this statement has no foundation in reality and this has been proved repeatedly. attempting to control a hugely non-linear, dynamic, if not chaotic feedback system is not possible. taks

either you do not understand objectivism yourself, are you are overgeneralizing it to the point of intellectual dishonesty. in either case, this is a strawman and not at all what is believed by either objectivists or capitalists (essentially the same thing for purposes of this discussion). no rational person actually thinks there can be a "perfect" world - that would be a utopian position, in fact, objectivism, as well as capitalism, counts on the fact that people are imperfect, perferring to make choices based on their own needs and desires. tsk, tsk. taks

i'm curious how you come to the conclusion that she had "no experience of real world economics"? ayn was a philosopher and at its heart, economic theory is really just the philosophy of the free market. she may have been off the mark a bit with that statement, but it is not far from the truth. people do not need to be "good" to practice good trade, walsh. even if 100% are bad, they will still conduct trade in good faith if only to continue to be trusted enough for future trade. you're making an assumption based on the way things are now, in which the government attempts to level the field, and those that are "bad" attempt to take advantage of that. separate economics from the state and this cannot happen, i.e., there is no way for those that are "bad" to control those that are "good." taks

yeah, odd. odd that i firmly believe in the government staying out of our lives, in the military or otherwise. no, not odd, just consistent. we have what we have, e.g., socialized medicine in the military, but that doesn't mean we should give up every other belief just because of this. taks

i already offered a very simple solution to this, btw. taks

yeah, push was ordinary. well, maybe a bit more than ordinary, and it was rather scatter-brained at times. drunk dakota was a hoot. worth a rent at least. some plot inconsistencies, as always... taks

last time i checked, nothing i read actually counts as entertainment. taks

because the people own the government, or rather, the government works for the people, not the other way around. taks

as i recall, you should be well past 7th level by the time you get to fihelis' estate anyway, more like 10-12th or so. particularly so if you only want to go in there with 3 dudes and no summons. taks

i'm sort of an elective non-reader. though i've also had somewhere around 90 credit hours of statistics and/or statistics related classwork as well as 15 years of applying them. to say the least, reading about statistics has become tiresome. otherwise, my "library" is rather large if i include all the papers i store and have (mostly) read. very few of my texts are of the type i think hurlshot is referring to. taks

i've interviewed with companies that did not allow smoking for benefit reasons, i.e., they did not want to pay higher premiums for smokers (if you can guarantee that all your employees are smoke free, i guess there is some discount). i don't have a problem with that... the affairs of private companies are none of my business. the affairs of the US government agencies, however, are my business (as they are for any other US citizen). taks

doctors with an engineering pre-med probably make good diagnosticians, actually. not sure if it would be due to the training (which is a bit more rigorous in the cause-effect department), or just the mindset of someone that goes into engineering (and gets out with a degree) to begin with. either way, yay! taks

the motion capture version of beowulf won the honors for our viewing pleasure last night. pretty good. i was reading the differences (gripes) between the real story and the zemeckis story and quite frankly, i prefer the latter. the former is just a story about a hero. the latter is the story about a human, one that recognizes his own flaws and works to correct them. the connection between the various monsters and the reasons for the story make a bit more sense in this context, though there are still some holes that could have been filled. my son was riveted. he was a bit distraught at the end, too, announcing that "it's not fair that the bravest one has to die." quite astute that little bugger. soon he'll understand why beowulf had to die. overall, i liked it, though i can't say i liked the motion capture aspect. it allows for easier scene generation as well as much more complex scenes, but they seem so artificial at times it can be distracting. characters often look almost cross-eyed, IMO. taks

colorado springs is nicer with more to do than denver and it's not very city-ish, either. rocky mountain national park, outside of boulder, is quite a sight to behold as well. taks

sigh... that's all i get, right? pretty ordinary for $5.99 or craptacular something else that i've already seen 10000 times (though for free). yay. if my wife was home, we'd be out at the new potter flick. unfortunately, she has a going away dinner for one of the other managers at her office. so here i sit, pondering what to watch while the child is blissfully watching wonder pets upstairs. he should be done with his hotdog soon. he is required to eat some cake tonight. yeah, required. a topic for the other thread i guess. taks